Menaquinone-7 supplementation improves arterial stiffness in healthy postmenopausal women. A double-blind randomised clinical trial

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

However, MK intervention trials with vascular endpoints are lacking.

Healthy postmenopausal women (n=244) received either placebo (n=124) or MK-7 (n=120) for three years.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are middle-aged adults and older adults, women only.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc group a baseline to be compared against.

Indices of local carotid stiffness (intima-media thickness IMT, Diameter end-diastole and Distension) were measured by echotracking.

Regional aortic stiffness (carotid-femoral and carotid-radial Pulse Wave Velocity, cfPWV and crPWV, respectively) was measured using mechanotransducers.

What Was Measured

However, MK intervention trials with vascular endpoints are lacking.

PubMed files the paper under topics including C-Reactive Protein, Carotid Arteries, Carotid Intima-Media Thickness, Dietary Supplements, E-Selectin, Femoral Artery and Glycation End Products, Advanced.

Author keywords: Arterial stiffness, Stiffness Index β, menaquinone-7 and pulse wave velocity.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

The publication is from 2015 (Thrombosis and haemostasis), a journal based in Germany.

More context: the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc compound page, all human trials.