In a new study, researchers found that Vitamin K produced by certain types of bacteria that colonize the gut could also bolster bones.
The research was conducted by a team at Tufts University and elsewhere.
When we think of strong bones, we usually think of milk, a rich source of the nutrients that promote bone density: calcium and vitamin D.
But we may be overlooking another important nutrient created closer to home—in our own gut, to be exact.
Previously, the team had found reduced bone strength but unchanged bone density in mice whose gut microbiomes had been modified.
Combing through the bone strength literature to identify the nutrient that might have been lost, they found that vitamin K had often been associated with fracture risk, but not bone density.
In the study, the team found that vitamin K is an enzymatic cofactor that’s required for certain proteins to function.
One of these, osteocalcin, is the predominant non-collagenous protein in bone.
Osteocalcin forms a soft, string-like material inside the mineralized portion of the bone, and helps make the bone matrix as a whole less brittle.
Right now, a lot of treatments for osteoporosis focus on improving bone mineral density, but there are not a lot of ways to improve bone matrix quality.
They say that most of the vitamin K in our diet comes from green vegetables, but the gut bacteria synthesize a different form of it.
It’s this form of vitamin K that could be affecting bone strength, although the exact mechanism is yet to be determined.
if scientists could change the gut microbiome so it makes more vitamin K, this could give people those benefits without having to eat more kale or take a regular vitamin supplement.
One author of the study is Chris Hernandez.
The study is published in the journal BONE.
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