Vitamins K2, a and D: Better Together
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7 Vitamins K2, A and D: Better Together ings should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. —Albert Einstein 181 ince you have already read about the amazing bene! ts of vitamin K", you might be tempted to skip the rest of the book and rush out to the store to buy a menaquinone supplement or, though much less likely, some natto. But wait, there’s more to the story. Below, I’ll to give you the quick and dirty explanation of the essential relation- ship between the three fat-soluble vitamins, A, D and K". Once you have read it, you may then rush out to the store, if you wish. If, however, you ! nd fat-soluble nutrients simply fascinating, as I do, then please enjoy the rest of the chapter to get the whole story. You will learn practical information about vitamins A, D, and E and about beta-carotene, and we’ll bust some myths along the way. But ! rst, here’s the skinny on fat-soluble vitamins: vitamins A and D are required for the production of vitamin K"–dependent proteins, like osteocalcin and MGP (matrix gla protein), which have enormous poten- tial health bene! ts. Vitamin K" activates those proteins, allowing them to realize their potential and do their job in moving calcium around the body. Without adequate amounts of vitamins A and D, K"-dependent proteins are not made, so K" is useless. Without adequate amounts of K", the K"-dependent proteins produced by the in# uence of A and D cannot be activated and so remain useless. Working together, however, vitamins A, D and K" are a mighty fat-soluble triumvirate. A, D and K2: A Balancing Act Vitamins A, D and K" are intricately interrelated in complex ways that modern science doesn’t yet entirely understand. $ at being said, the fundamental importance of these nutrients as the foundation of good health is so critical, yet so underappreciated, that this book would be incomplete without a chapter devoted to their special relationship. 182 V I T A M I N K 2 AND THE CALCIUM PARADOX As much as “Vitamin K" is the ultimate supernutrient!” makes a great headline, the fact is that the bene! ts of K" are dependent on vitamins A and D—and, for many aspects of health, the opposite is also true. $ e fat-soluble vitamins, A, D and K", are profoundly di& erent from other nutrients. $ e biological role of most nutritional compounds, such as minerals and water-soluble vitamins, is to act as cofactors. A cofactor is a molecule that binds to a protein and is required for that protein’s biological activity. Almost every metabolic process in the body happens because of a protein, usually an enzyme. Minerals and water-soluble vitamins are the helper molecules that allow our body’s proteins to func- tion, which is why these nutrients are so important for health. Vitamins A and D do not act as cofactors in the way other vitamins do. $ e roles of A and D are more fundamental: they regulate the activity of genes that cause cells to produce the proteins to which the miner- als and water-soluble vitamins will bind. Vitamin K"—although it isn’t known to a& ect genetic activity like A and D do—will also activate pro- teins, allowing them to bind calcium to do their job. It is for this reason that Dr. Weston Price referred to A, D and X (K") as “activators.” ese fat-soluble vitamins are required so our body can make use of all other nutrients. $ ey are truly the foundation of health. The relationship between A, D and K" is well illustrated by an image I use when lecturing about these nutrients. It’s of the $ ree Viro Brothers, a turn-of-the-*+th-century acrobatic ensemble. Each brother represents a vitamin. Vitamins A and D are at the base of the forma- tion. Speci! cally, vitamin D is the brother on the left who is smiling at the camera. Everybody can see D; he is well known, popular, looking right at the audience. Similarly, vitamin D is currently the darling of the nutritional world. Good news about this nutrient is published every day, 183 V I T A M I N S K 2, A AND D: BETTER TOGETHER and it all gets top billing in the media. $ ese days, everyone knows they need vitamin D. Vitamin A is the brother with his head between D’s legs. His face is obscured and his role in this trio is not as obvious as that of his brother, D. He even seems kind of weird and scary. Likewise, the health bene! ts of vitamin A are quite misunderstood and underappreciated. It has even been unjustly maligned for being toxic. But make no mistake, without A this pyramid would topple. Even with the bene! ts of K", the current trend toward supplementing higher and higher doses of D will lead to an unhealthy balance without vitamin A to maintain the equilibrium. 184 V I T A M I N K 2 AND THE CALCIUM PARADOX Above it all is K", the brother on top. It’s obvious that without A and D, K" would fall # at on his face. Indeed, menaquinone would be useless without vitamins A and D to regulate the production of K"-dependent proteins. On the other hand, you could argue that A and D don’t really need K" up there; they could have their own little bal- ancing act. True, many of us have gotten by with little or no K" in our diets for years and we’re still standing. However, this stupendous feat realizes its awesome potential only with K" perched on top. Vitamins A and D collaborate to prop up vitamin K", and we fully bene! t from vitamins A and D only when we have K" to complete the act and achieve optimal health. In addition to their special relationship with vitamin K", vitamins A and D have another unique feature that distinguishes them from other nutrients: they are obtained only from animal foods. Although this might be bad news for vegans, it does explain why A and D cross the boundaries of the terms “hormone,” “prehormone” and “vitamin” (discussed further below). To fully appreciate the food sources and health bene! ts of vitamin K"’s balancing partners, let’s turn the spot- light on the information—and misinformation—about these nutritional elements. Understanding Vitamin A True or false: carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A. $ e answer is “false.” In fact, carrots don’t contain any vitamin A at all. If this surprises or confuses you, it’s because misleading information about vitamin A is everywhere. Retinol is one of the most important yet least understood nutrients. It has garnered a very much undeserved rep- utation for being toxic, which may be causing its intake to be neglected 185 V I T A M I N S K 2, A AND D: BETTER TOGETHER by those who need it most. A de! ciency of this nutrient is much more likely than an overload, given that our consumption of vitamin A–rich foods has declined precipitously over the last century. Let’s take a look at the health bene! ts, de! ciency symptoms and food sources of vitamin A, and explore the truth about retinol toxicity. CH3 CH3 H3C CH3 OH CH3 Molecular structure of retinol Health Benefi ts of Vitamin A Vision Vitamin A has been known for at least /,011 years as a factor in healthy vision. As far back as the ancient Egyptians, many cultures have recognized that eating liver (an excellent source of vitamin A) would restore vision in people with night blindness.* $ e scienti! c name for vitamin A is retinol, re# ecting its presence in the retina of the eye. One of the ! rst signs of vitamin A de! ciency is a reduced ability to see in dim light. Vitamin A has a speci! c, highly complex function in vision under low-light conditions. $ e body converts dietary retinol into a form of vitamin A called retinal. Retinal binds with opsin, a protein in the retina, to create the light-sensitive pigment rhodopsin, also known as “visual purple.” Rhodopsin resides in the part of the eye responsible for low-light and peripheral vision. Upon exposure to light, the visual pigment breaks apart, releasing energy signals that the brain interprets as a picture. 186 V I T A M I N K 2 AND THE CALCIUM PARADOX Seeing in the dark An early modern vitamin A researcher was moved to make the following poetic remark on this topic: “It may be an inspiring thought . that Man’s knowledge of the existence of the stars and the vast universe which appears in the heavens each night, comes in the ! rst place from the stimulation by light rays of delicately poised molecules of vitamin A.”" $ e next time you ! nd yourself gazing at the stars, you can thank vitamin A. Severe vitamin A de! ciency leads to blindness, even in daylight, a condition called xerophthalmia. In his pivotal work, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Dr. Weston Price tells the story of a prospector who, while crossing a high plateau in the Rocky Mountains, went blind with xerophthalmia due to lack of vitamin A. As he sat weeping with despair and, quite literally, blinding pain, he was discovered by a Native. $ e Native led the blind man by the hand to a stream, where the Native caught a ! sh and instructed the prospector to eat the # esh of the head and the tissues near the eyes, as well as the eyes themselves.