Menaquinone-4 and artery calcium in a one-year study
What it found
In 26 people with heart risk factors, taking 45 mg of menaquinone-4 daily for a year did not stop coronary artery calcium from rising, and arterial stiffness stayed about the same overall.
Stiffness improved in those who started with low vitamin K status.
What they found
Studies in people
Coronary calcium increased
The coronary artery calcium score rose from 513 at the start to 588 after 1 year, a 14% increase. The authors say menaquinone-4 did not stop calcium from building up.
Arterial stiffness unchanged overall
Brachial ankle pulse wave velocity was 1834 cm/s at the start and 1821 cm/s after 1 year, a 0.7% decrease. The authors report no overall change.
Stiffness improved in some
In patients with high PIVKA-2 at the start, which suggests low vitamin K status, pulse wave velocity fell by 18% per year. This reduction was not seen in those with low PIVKA-2.
Calcium rose regardless of status
Coronary calcium increased similarly in all groups, whether they started with high or low PIVKA-2 or uncarboxylated osteocalcin.
What the authors conclude
“Despite high dose MK-4 supplementation, CAC increased +14 % annually, but baPWV did not change (-0.7 %).”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that despite menaquinone-4 supplementation, coronary artery calcium progressed 14% annually.
- They state that arterial stiffness did not change overall, but a reduction was seen only in patients with baseline vitamin K insufficiency.
- They note that the benefits of menaquinone-4 were only observed in patients with vitamin K insufficiencies, reducing pulse wave velocity but not coronary calcium.
How it was done
Vitamin K intake has been linked to less coronary artery calcification and fewer heart problems, but it was unknown whether menaquinone-4 supplements could reduce calcification or arterial stiffness.
They gave 26 patients with at least one coronary risk factor a 15 mg menaquinone-4 tablet three times a day (45 mg/day) for 1 year. They measured coronary artery calcium score and brachial ankle pulse wave velocity before and after treatment.
What it can’t tell you
- This was a single-arm study with no control group, so it cannot show whether menaquinone-4 changed the course of coronary calcium compared to no treatment.
- The study was small and from one center, so the results may not apply to other groups of people.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Tokai University School of Medicine, Japan; Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan; Kobe Pharmaceutical University, Japan
The paper
- Title
- Impact of menaquinone-4 supplementation on coronary artery calcification and arterial stiffness: an open label single arm study
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Ikari Y, Torii S, Shioi A, Okano T (2016). Impact of menaquinone-4 supplementation on coronary artery calcification and arterial stiffness: an open label single arm study. Nutrition journal. doi:10.1186/s12937-016-0175-8Free full textPubMed 27175730DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error