Vitamin D Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Vitamin D, including details on sources, melanin, benefits, deficiency, supplements, calcium absorption.

Vitamin K and vitamin D status: associations with inflammatory markers in the Framingham Offspring Study.

Shea MK, Booth SL, Massaro JM, Jacques PF, D'Agostino RB, Dawson-Hughes B, Ordovas JM, O'Donnell CJ, Kathiresan S, Keaney JF, Vasan RS, Benjamin EJ

Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111, USA.

In vitro data suggest protective roles for vitamins K and D in inflammation. To examine associations between vitamins K and D and inflammation in vivo, the authors used multiple linear regression analyses, adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, triglyceride concentrations, use of aspirin, use of lipid-lowering medication, season, menopausal status, and hormone replacement therapy. Participants were from the Framingham Offspring Study (1997-2001; n = 1,381; mean age = 59 years; 52% women). Vitamin K status, measured by plasma phylloquinone concentration and phylloquinone intake, was inversely associated with circulating inflammatory markers as a group and with several individual inflammatory biomarkers (p < 0.01). Percentage of undercarboxylated osteocalcin, a functional measure of vitamin K status, was not associated with overall inflammation but was associated with C-reactive protein (p < 0.01). Although plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D was inversely associated with urinary isoprostane concentration, an indicator of oxidative stress (p < 0.01), overall associations between vitamin D status and inflammation were inconsistent. The observation that high vitamin K status was associated with lower concentrations of inflammatory markers suggests that a possible protective role for vitamin K in inflammation merits further investigation.

Published 1 February 2008 in Am J Epidemiol, 167(3): 313-20.
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