Calcium Supplementation is OK provided you also take Vitamin K

The Bone—Vasculature Axis: Calcium Supplementation and the Role of Vitamin K

Front. Cardiovasc. Med., 05 February 2019 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2019.00006

Grzegorz B. Wasilewski1,2, Marc G. Vervloet3 and Leon J. Schurgers1*

1 Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands

2 Nattopharma ASA, Hovik, Norway

3 Department of Nephrology and Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Interactions with P and Vit K

Calcium supplements are broadly prescribed to treat osteoporosis either as monotherapy or together with vitamin D to enhance calcium absorption. It is still unclear whether calcium supplementation significantly contributes to the reduction of bone fragility and fracture risk. Data suggest that supplementing post-menopausal women with high doses of calcium has a detrimental impact on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients are prone to vascular calcification in part due to impaired phosphate excretion. Calcium-based phosphate binders further increase risk of vascular calcification progression. In both bone and vascular tissue, vitamin K-dependent processes play an important role in calcium homeostasis and it is tempting to speculate that vitamin K supplementation might protect from the potentially untoward effects of calcium supplementation. This review provides an update on current literature on calcium supplementation among post-menopausal women and CKD patients and discusses underlying molecular mechanisms of vascular calcification. We propose therapeutic strategies with vitamin K2 treatment to prevent or hold progression of vascular calcification as a consequence of excessive calcium intake.