In accordance with Innova (August 2024), use of vitamin K2 as the principle ingredient in human dietary supplements has been rising with a CAGR of 15%, however new check outcomes from Balchem and Alkemist Labs signifies that not all these dietary supplements are what they declare to be: Evaluation of 38 vitamin K2 merchandise in numerous codecs and formulations revealed that 71% fell in need of the established high quality benchmarks regarding K2 MK-7 content material or isomeric purity.
Vitamin K2
There are two foremost types of vitamin Ok. Phylloquinone (also referred to as phytonadione or vitamin K1) is present in inexperienced leafy greens equivalent to lettuce, broccoli and spinach and makes up about 90% of the vitamin Ok in a typical Western weight loss program. The second, menaquinones (nutritional vitamins K2), makes up about 10% of Western vitamin Ok consumption and might be synthesized within the intestine by microflora.
Menaquinones may also be discovered within the weight loss program: MK-4 in animal meat and MK-7, MK-8 and MK-9 in fermented meals merchandise like cheese. Natto (fermented soybeans) is a wealthy supply of MK-7.
The potential well being advantages of the vitamin embrace cardiovascular and bone health, with knowledge additionally supporting a job in prostate health and cognitive benefits.
Balchem, which acquired vitamin K2 player Kappa Bioscience in 2022, provides a patented, artificial, 99.7% all-trans vitamin K2 as MK-7 referred to as K2VITAL, with research exhibiting the ingredient is bio-identical to the vitamin K2 molecule present in nature.
New testing
The brand new testing confirmed that solely 29% of the dietary supplements analyzed by Alkemist Labs met MK-7 content material and isomeric purity requirements. A low isomeric purity refers back to the presence of each cis- and trans- isomers of MK-7, versus all-trans variations.
Moreover, some multivitamin or mixture K2-plus-mineral formulations use unprotected types of vitamin K2, which degrade quickly when mixed with different minerals and nutritional vitamins, mentioned Balchem.
“This journey in the direction of transparency began in 2018, once we examined for assay and purity of vitamin K2 merchandise in Germany, and the outcomes had been surprising,” mentioned Dominik Mattern, VP of science, enterprise growth and advertising of Balchem Human Vitamin and Well being. “To deal with this, we contacted producers to tell them of our findings and discover co-development alternatives to allow them to boost their providing by incorporating all-trans MK-7 and meet label claims.”
Mattern mentioned that this resulted in one of many main e-commerce platforms in Germany now that includes the all-trans mark.
“We intention to extend consciousness in regards to the distinctive specs of vitamin K2, emphasizing the need for the proper isomer, referred to as all-trans MK-7, in addition to the significance of microencapsulation and correct safety within the presence of particular compounds equivalent to minerals,” he added.
High quality questions endure
The outcomes of the evaluation feeds right into a wider problem round high quality of some dietary complement merchandise accessible on-line. No firm has finished extra to boost consciousness of this problem than Illinois-based NOW Meals, which has been testing lesser-known manufacturers accessible from main e-commerce platforms for seven years. Its most recent testing, revealed this week, found significant failings with resveratrol supplements.
NOW’s program obtained the 2021 NutraIngredients-USA Award for Industry Initiative of the Year.
ChromaDex has also raised questions about the quality of NMN supplements on Amazon, whereas Timeline also shared tests results that alleged that some urolithin A dietary supplements on the platform didn’t include any of the mobile growing older ingredient.
