Are wrinkles an inevitable fact of aging or could laugh lines and crow’s feet potentially indicate a vitamin deficiency or even a more serious underlying health issue?
In 2011, researchers presented findings at a meeting of the Endocrine Society in Boston that revealed that women in their 40’s and 50’s who have extensive skin wrinkling are much more likely than their peers to have low bone mass.
Researchers noted the relationship between wrinkles and bone density in every single bone tested which included hip, heel, and lumbar (spine). Â In addition, this relationship existed regardless of body fat percentage and age.
Epidemiological evidence of Asian women offers further health clues to the wrinkle mystery.
It is known that Japanese women have fewer wrinkles and less skin sagging that women of the same age living in North America. Â These two groups of women vary greatly in diet and lifestyle, however.
Even when Japanese women living in Tokyo were compared with women from the Asian cities of Shanghai and Bangok, however, they showed the least visible signs of aging.
Diet and lifestyle factors for these three Asian groups of women are comparable except for one notable exception: the consumption of natto in Japan.
Tokyo residents frequently enjoy natto, a strong-smelling food traditionally made from fermented soybeans for breakfast. Natto is loaded with menaquinone, Vitamin K2, and blood samples of the Tokyo women revealed high circulating levels of this fat soluble vitamin.
Further research which bolsters the notion that getting plenty of anti-wrinkle vitamin K2 in the diet makes for smoother facial features is found in the research of Korean scientists and was published in the journal Nephrology in 2008.
The rate at which the kidneys are able to filter the blood is an important measure of overall kidney function. Â Researchers found that reduced renal filtration rate was associated with increased facial wrinkling.
What does decreased kidney filtration rate predict?
You guessed it – Vitamin K2 deficiency, according to American research published the year after the Korean study.
Testing has been limited so far on the true extent of Vitamin K2 deficiency in the western world, but so far, of those tested, 90% tested deficient in this critical nutrient.
Avoid the Vitamin Deficiency That Causes Wrinkles With These Foods
If you want to avoid a vitamin deficiency of K2, know that it is an elusive nutrient and extremely difficult to obtain with a modern diet.
The highest sources of K2 are:
- Natto (fermented soybeans)
- Goose liver
- Certain cheeses (Gouda has the most K2)
- Animal fats like egg yolk, butter, and lard which must come from grassfed animals.
Natto contains 1,103 mcg of K2 per 3.5 ounce/100 gram portion which is far higher than any other food.
The second highest food in Vitamin K2 is goose liver pate which has 369 mcg per 3 1/2 ounce portion. While delicious and wonderful to eat, goose liver pate is very hard to find in most places. Â It is also a very high end, gourmet food which makes the price out of reach for most.
Rounding out the top 3 foods highest in Vitamin K2 is none other than the humble Gouda cheese, which boasts 75 mcg per 3 1/2 ounce serving! Brie contains a significant K2 as well.
This compares to pastured egg yolks and butter, which each have about 15 mcg of K2 per 3 1/2 ounce portion.
How much of these K2 containing foods should you eat to avoid a vitamin deficiency of this critical nutrient? That part gets murky as the official recommended daily intake (RDI) of Vitamin K doesn’t distinguish between K1 and K2 despite their very different uses in the body.
The RDI for Vitamin K is only determined by the liver’s requirement for normal blood clotting factors, not the K2 needed for optimal bone and kidney health and wrinkle-free skin. So, getting enough K1 in the diet via leafy greens could still mean a serious deficiency of Vitamin K2.
There is also no solid evidence that the human body is able to convert Vitamin K1 to Vitamin K2, which is what occurs in grazing animals.
The good news is that there is no known toxicity of Vitamin K2, unlike other fat-soluble vitamins.
So, eating generously of Vitamin K2 rich foods as practiced by Traditional Societies and even potentially taking a supplement to avoid a vitamin deficiency is considered wise by Dr. Kate Rheaume-Bleue, ND, author of Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox.
Which to Take? Plant vs Animal K2
Vitamin K2 is available in both animal fats and fermented foods. The animal form is MK-4 and the fermented form is MK-7.
Recent research has shown that an Aboriginal sacred food is extremely high in MK-4, nearly as high as goose liver pate!
This vetted source of pastured emu oil from the genetically pure strain of birds eating their native diet that produces this nutrient-dense fat. Note that not all emu oil contains K2…only the fat from pastured birds!
For those who prefer the fermented form of K2 (MK-7), this quality brand offers therapeutic doses of the wrinkle-reducing vitamin from nonGMO natto extract.
More Information on Avoiding K2 Vitamin Deficiency
The Best Vitamin K 2 Supplement
Benefits of Vitamin K2
Macrobiotic Diet and Extreme Vitamin Deficiency
Emu Oil Benefits
Wow, I never heard of this vitamin K2!!! I have to study more about this subject as my mum is showing all the symptoms you described!!!
Coumadin (Wararin) users cannot touch Vitamin K. It’s the whole point of Coumadin (Wararin) … to eradicate the effects of Vitamin K.
Only partially true. Those on blood thinners CAN eat foods containing high levels of vitamin K1 “IF” they are consistent in intake from day-to-day so that the medication can be adjusted accordingly. Vitamin K2 apparently affects calcium metabolism and doesn’t have any influence on blood thickness/clotting.
Linda is right on one point. Coumadin levels can be adjusted to accommodate daily vitamin K intake.
But she is wrong about the clotting. All Vitamin K types work with clotting too.
(Warning – techy sentence) Vitamin K works molecularly to make a certain type of calcium-carboxyilic acid bonds possible (by adding a carboxyilic acid group to a glutamate amino acid that is found in a protein). the result is called a Gla protein. (Some of the result are enzymes, others are structural molecules.)
Bottom line, Vitamin K it is critical in making certain types of special proteins in the body, some of which work in relation to the coagulation (clot) cascade (four different proteins). Other vitamin K related proteins work in relation to calcium utilization (and other things).
Coumadin (warfarin) works to inhibit the recycling process of Vitamin K in the body, so, barring increased intake, the body gradually becomes deficient in vitamin k and the clotting proteins will not do their thing when clot signaling occurs. The same can be said of the other types of proteins. (“PT” level is a measurement used with warfarin use, and measures “prothrombin [a protein] time” – that is, how long to clot. Prothombin is a vitamin K dependent Gla protein that is central to clotting.)
But the real question is what are the side effects of long term, warfarin induced vitamin K deficiency? And are some of them offset if you consume vitamin K along with your Coumadin and readjust the med? I wish I could tell you the answer. But personally, I would supplement and adjust the med if I had to take it. I am not fond of the idea of calcified heart valves. (From which my mother died from after being on long term Coumadin and no vitamin K before I understood the biological mechanisms in play.)
But not good for you if you take blood thinners.
Would love to know your family’s reactions to the MK-7. My first bottle arrived today. Thanks.
Genetics is still the main reason Asian women look young. And correlation is not causation in any case.
This article has all the hallmarks of vitamin crankery. In addition to the K-12 I recommend a large grain of salt.
And nutrition cannot affect genetics? Ever heard of generational addiction problems? What about genetic-related obesity? Since obesity is a relatively new problem in humanity, how do you explain a genetic pre-disposition to something that was almost unheard of before the year 1800? Of course genes play a role. But what you eat can “switch on” or “switch off” certain genetic traits, and what you eat can change gene expression so that future generations are effective.
I am confused……another article posted on this blog, says 170 scientific reasons to stay away from soy, but here it says take natto??? which is soy.
Unfortunately, thanks to the giant chemical/ agriculture companies like Monsanto, what was once a good food if fermented has turned dangerous. Most of the world’s soy is genetically- engineered (or genetically- modified) and can cause many problems for your health, because GE crops would never be found in nature, they are manipulated by man. That’s why it’s important to know if it’s grown organically, or non- GE, non-GM. The US grows 94% of its soy, genetically-engineered. If the crop terminates every year, and every year new seeds have to be bought from Monsanto, Syngenta & friends, then you know it’s genetically-engineered, or GMO.
The same article mentioned natto, miso and tempeh as the only acceptable/beneficial/traditional soy foods to be eaten in moderation. Apparently this natto bacteria produces a huge immune-boosting benefit, aside from the vit k, and breaks down some of the detrimental properties of soy. And like susan said, most soy is genetically engineered to be even worse for us. trust me: if you eat natto, tempeh or miso, you can’t eat more than a very small amount, so it is self-limiting, unlike sugar-sweetened soymilk or soy protein isolates.
Not happy eating anything with soy bean in but the next two options are fine. Our backyard chooks are grass fed in the main so I score well there. Genetics must play a big part too as I seem to be lucky with the absence of wrinkles at 61.
A friend who lives in Japan say they are not allowed to grow GMO. However, I think Japan, like Europe, does import soy through the ‘back door’ in the animal feed. So you can’t sell GMO to consumer directly, but who knows what happens with the animal feed.
So if that’s the case, the “product of Japan” natto should be GMO free, right? I’m a little afraid to assume it though. I’d much rather it explicitly say it’s not GMO or that it’s organic, though finding that is proving very difficult, unless I just want to go with a natto extract supplement. I’ve heard more about it, though, and that the probiotics in it are super beneficial, on top of the K2, and who knows what else, so I’m hoping to add it to my diet rather than take a vitamin.
Best thing is ask the company whose product you are looking at. I literally have to do that with almost every packaged product I consume. And found it to be worth it. You’d be amazed to find that things are not really how they are marketed because of ‘loopholes’ in definitions. That’s why I try not to eat too many packaged foods. That makes me end up cooking and preparing food a lot more than I used to, but you gotta do what you gotta do for your health. I was hoping some day, to organize a pool of people to take turns cooking.