By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, March 31, 2009, abstracted from “Serum Undercarboxylated Osteocalcin as Biomarker of Vitamin K Intake and Risk of Prostate Cancer: A Nested Case-Control Study in the Heidelberg Cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition” in the January 2009 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention

After lung cancer, prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in American men (1). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimated that the overall economic cost of cancer in the United States was $189.8 billion in 2004, with $69.4 billion attributed to direct medical costs, $16.9 billion to indirect morbidity costs, and $103.5 billion to indirect mortality costs (2).

A number of foods and supplements have been found to help maintain prostate health, including lycopene and vitamin E (3), spinach (4), broccoli (6), red wine (7), vitamin D (8) green tea (9), soy (10) avoiding processed foods (11) and foods high in starch (12). Now a new study (13) has found that vitamin K may also help prostate health.

In the study, researchers compared diet records and lifestyle habits of 250 men diagnosed with prostate cancer with 494 men without prostate cancer between the ages of 40 and 64. The men participated in the EPIC-Heidelberg study (14), which followed them over the course of between 9 and 13 years (recruited between 1994 and 1998 and followed until 2007). Patients provided blood samples before and throughout the study and completed food frequency questionnaires (15). The researchers looked at the ratio of 2 markers of vitamin K intake: ucOC and iOC. A high ratio of ucOC-to-iOC is indicative of lower vitamin K levels in the body (16).

Total vitamin K intake in the control group averaged 124.7 micrograms per day (ranging from 101-167 micrograms/day) and averaged 132.5 micrograms per day (ranging from 104.8-169.4 micrograms per day). The researchers found that every 0.1 increment in the ucOC-to-iOC ratio was associated with a 38% increase in advanced-stage prostate cancer, and a 21% increase in high-grade prostate cancer.

The researchers also looked at a "Vitamin K Supply Score" that they developed, which looked not only at the ucOC-to-iOC ratio but intake of vitamin K2 (menaquinones). They found that those with the highest vitamin K supply score (lowest ucOC-to-iOC ratio and highest vitamin K2 intake) had a 24% decreased risk of total prostate cancer and a 75% decreased risk of aggressive prostate cancer, compared to those with the lowest vitamin K supply score.

Finally, they found that each 10 microgram per day increment in dietary intake of menaquinones (vitamin K2) was associated with a significant 11% reduction in risk of total prostate cancer. For the researchers, "vitamin K status may play a role in the etiology and progression of prostate cancer.", “vitamin K status may play a role in the etiology and progression of prostate cancer.” The current recommendations by the National Academy of Science for vitamin K are 120 micrograms per day in men and 90 micrgorams per day in women (17).

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at mailto:PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.CompleteChiropracticHealthcare.com

Reference:

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17. “Fruits and Vegetables Yield Less Vitamin A Than Previously Thought; Upper Limit Set for Daily Intake of Vitamin A and Nine Other Nutrients” posted on www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=10026