Menaquinone

Studies in people

• Benefit

  Bone health²

  Eating natto with extra menaquinone-7 helped a bone protein work better in people.

• Benefit

  Blood sugar control³

  Menaquinone-7 may help blood sugar control, but scientists say more good research is needed.

• Benefit

  Bone strength after fractures⁴

  In women with broken bones from weak bones, menaquinone lowered a blood marker tied to bone strength.

• Benefit

  Body weight and fat⁵

  In adults with low vitamin K, a year of menaquinone-7 led to small BMI drops, mostly in women.

• No harm found

  Blood clotting in patients on warfarin⁶

  Eating low-menaquinone natto did not change blood clotting test results in warfarin patients.

• Open question

  Bone and artery health⁹

  In people, taking menaquinone-7 helped activate bone and artery proteins, but whether that protects against age-related disease is unknown.

• Open question

  Bone mineralisation¹⁰

  In people, olive oil enriched with menaquinone raised blood levels and changed a bone protein marker.

• Benefit

  Heart artery hardening¹¹

  In post-menopausal women, eating more menaquinone was linked to less hardening of the heart arteries.

• Open question

  Children's height growth¹²

  In children, daily menaquinone-7 seemed linked to slightly faster height gain over time, but it may not truly cause this.

• No harm found

  Artery hardening in the heart¹³

  In people, menaquinone-4 did not stop heart artery calcium from rising over a year.

• Benefit

  Artery stiffness in older women¹⁴

  In postmenopausal women, taking menaquinone (MK-7) for three years improved artery stiffness, especially in those whose arteries were already stiff.

• Concern

  Blood clotting with blood thinners¹⁵

  In people on blood thinners, taking menaquinone-7 supplements weakened the drug's effect, so clotting time dropped.

• Benefit

  Heart disease risk in women¹⁶

  In women, eating more menaquinone was linked to slightly fewer heart problems, but scientists say more research is needed.

• Benefit

  Heart and artery health¹⁷

  In adults, eating more menaquinone was linked to fewer deaths from heart disease and less severe artery hardening.

• Benefit

  Blood pressure after menopause¹⁸

  In post-menopausal women with low vitamin K and stiff arteries, a year of menaquinone-7 improved blood pressure and vascular markers.

• Benefit

  Artery stiffness in dialysis patients¹⁹

  In dialysis patients with diabetes, menaquinone-7 led to less artery stiffening over 24 weeks.

• Benefit

  Blood sugar and inflammation in diabetes²⁰

  In people with type 2 diabetes, menaquinone lowered one blood marker but not inflammation or body fat.

How it’s made and used

• Diet and blood levels⁷

  In people on dialysis, eating less menaquinone-4 from meat was linked to lower levels of it in the blood.

• Vitamin K levels in blood⁸

  In women, menaquinone-4 taken by mouth did not show up in blood, while menaquinone-7 did.

• Vitamin K in cheese²¹

  Cheese and curd are the richest sources of menaquinone in Western diets, though amounts vary by type, fat and ripening.

The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least one finding in people. When most findings in people point one way, the page leans that way (“Mostly”), and every finding is still shown. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.