Vitamin K as a Powerful Micronutrient in Aging and Age-Related Diseases: Pros and Cons from Clinical Studies

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences 2019-08, Vol.20 (17), p.4150
• Main Authors: Simes, Dina C, Viegas, Carla S B, Araújo, Nuna, Marreiros, Catarina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Age Factors; Aging; Aging - metabolism; Animals; Arthritis; Biomarkers; Biomedical materials; Blood coagulation; Bone turnover; Calcification; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Chronic illnesses; Disease Susceptibility - metabolism; Food allergies; Health; Humans; Inflammation; Kidney diseases; Measurement methods; Metabolism; Metabolites; Micronutrients - metabolism; Mineralization; Mortality; Nutrient deficiency; Nutrition; Nutritional status; Osteoarthritis; Osteoporosis; Phylloquinone; Population; Population studies; Proteins; Review; Signal transduction; Soft tissues; Studies; Vitamin K; Vitamin K - metabolism
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms20174150

Vitamin K is a multifunctional micronutrient implicated in age-related diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Although vitamin K-dependent proteins (VKDPs) are described to have a crucial role in the pathogenesis of these diseases, novel roles have emerged for vitamin K, independently of its role in VKDPs carboxylation. Vitamin K has been shown to act as an anti-inflammatory by suppressing nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signal transduction and to exert a protective effect against oxidative stress by blocking the generation of reactive oxygen species. Available clinical evidences indicate that a high vitamin K status can exert a protective role in the inflammatory and mineralization processes associated with the onset and progression of age-related diseases. Also, vitamin K involvement as a protective super-micronutrient in aging and 'inflammaging' is arising, highlighting its future use in clinical practice. In this review we summarize current knowledge regarding clinical data on vitamin K in skeletal and cardiovascular health, and discuss the potential of vitamin K supplementation as a health benefit. We describe the clinical evidence and explore molecular aspects of vitamin K protective role in aging and age-related diseases, and its involvement as a modulator in the interplay between pathological calcification and inflammation processes.