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Study · Nutrients · 2026Conflicts declared

Menaquinone-7 and body composition in adults with low vitamin K

Bittner R, de Vries F, Machuron F, Maresz K, Gåserød O, Schurgers L · Free full text

What it found

In 243 adults with low vitamin K status, one year of daily menaquinone-7 led to a small drop in BMI, with bigger changes in body fat and weight among women and among those whose vitamin K blood marker improved most.

What they found

Studies in people

Low vitamin K and body fat

At the start, people with lower vitamin K status had higher BMI, fat mass index and visceral fat. The authors say this link was positive.

BMI after one year

After one year, the whole menaquinone-7 group had a small drop in BMI of about 0.66 percent. The placebo group did not show a significant drop.

Responders and body changes

People whose vitamin K blood marker dropped by at least 183 pmol/L had lower fat mass, waist-to-hip ratio, BMI and weight. Those who did not respond this way gained visceral fat.

Women and body changes

Women, especially those who were pre- or perimenopausal, had greater drops in BMI, fat mass and weight. Women made up 76 percent of the responders.

Vitamin K marker in men and women

The vitamin K blood marker dropped significantly in 90.9 percent of women. In men, 77.8 percent showed a drop, but the change was not statistically significant.

What the authors conclude

“Optimising vitamin K status, achieved through dietary modification or supplementation with MK-7, led to consistent improvements in vitamin K-dependent biomarkers.”
Bittner R, de Vries F, Machuron F, Maresz K, Gåserød O, Schurgers L, 2026

Also in their conclusions

  • They say that poor vitamin K status was linked to higher BMI, fat mass and visceral fat.
  • They conclude that optimising vitamin K status through diet or menaquinone-7 supplements led to consistent improvements in vitamin K blood markers.
  • They advise that the modest effects on BMI and fat distribution are population-dependent and need further studies with larger groups.

How it was done

Vitamin K is linked to body composition through pathways involving insulin sensitivity, adiponectin, fat oxidation and inflammation, and low vitamin K status is linked to worse health outcomes. The authors wanted to see whether menaquinone-7 changes body composition in adults with low vitamin K status.

They ran a double-blind placebo-controlled trial at Maastricht University between 2015 and 2018 with 243 volunteers aged 40 to 70, all with low vitamin K status. Participants took 180 mcg of menaquinone-7 or a placebo once a day for one year, and the researchers measured BMI, weight, fat mass, lean mass and visceral fat.

What it can’t tell you

  • This was a randomised trial, so it can show cause and effect for the body measurements taken. It cannot show whether these small changes lead to better heart health or other long-term outcomes.
  • The authors note that the evidence on menaquinone-7 and body composition is mixed and may differ by population, dose and how long it is taken.

The paper

Title
Sex-Specific Effects of Menaquinone-7 (MK-7) Supplementation on Body Composition and Adiposity Markers
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
Bittner R, de Vries F, Machuron F, Maresz K, Gåserød O, Schurgers L (2026). Sex-Specific Effects of Menaquinone-7 (MK-7) Supplementation on Body Composition and Adiposity Markers. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu18111699Free full textPubMed 42280344DOI

Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error