The Importance of Taking Vitamin D3 + K2

The Importance of Taking Vitamin D3 and K2

Vitamins and minerals are essential for our survival. Our foods should be providing the energy we need to power our brain and body, but ongoing population surveys indicate that the standard American diet is failing to do this job. Among the many vitamins most of us aren’t getting enough of daily are vitamins D3 and K2.

Vitamin D3 is primarily known for building bones. However, healthy vitamin D3 levels also can help support your mood, boost your brain function, and generally improve your well-being. Sometimes referred to as the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D3 promotes the actions of serotonin, dopamine, and other key brain neurotransmitters. It’s involved in the healthy regulation of thousands of human genes and is crucial for a strong immune system. After it’s made in the skin as vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), it becomes converted by the liver and kidney into a hormone (calcitriol) that has receptors in practically all our tissues. D3 is so important to brain function that its receptors are distributed throughout the brain. This powerful hormone also helps regulate the heart, circulation, gut, liver, pancreas, immune system, and other organ systems. Vitamin D3 is critical for a healthy pregnancy. It also plays a critical role in the brain’s early development, its ongoing maintenance, and its functions that underlie healthy mood and basic cognition, such as learning and making memories.

Vitamin K’s positive actions for the brain and body are frequently underestimated. Vitamin K2, as menaquinone-7 (MK-7), is much more active than vitamin K1. K2 activates brain proteins that not only help control calcium’s potential to do damage, but also support brain cell maturation, survival, and electrical conduction. Outside the brain, uncontrolled calcium can form stony deposits in the heart valves, large arteries, and elsewhere in the body. Vitamin K2 proteins help direct calcium away from the brain, heart, blood vessels, and other soft tissues and towards the bone, teeth, and nails that need it. K2 also is essential for the coagulation processes required for healthy wound healing.

When combined with vitamin K2, vitamin D3 helps move calcium into your bones (where it’s needed most), which prevents it from forming deposits in your arteries and blood vessels. One randomized controlled trial conducted with postmenopausal women who suffered from weak and brittle bones found that after 2 years of supplementation with vitamin D3, vitamin K2, or both, the women who received both vitamin D3 and K2 experienced better bone mineral density compared to the other groups that took only vitamin D3 or vitamin K2 ¹. From this and other research, it seems that vitamins D3 and K2 can provide greater benefit together than what each nutrient offers individually.

Here are some of the benefits of taking Vitamin D3 and K2:

• Supports a healthy immune system
• Promotes cognitive function
• Builds healthy bones
• Antioxidant protection
• Cardiovascular support
• Better blood flow and circulation

If you are concerned about your vitamin D3 and K2 levels, talk to your doctor about which supplements may be right for you.