Lee Swanson Research Update / Study Supports Prostate Benefits from Vitamin K
Lee Swanson
2008 saw more than 186,000 new cases of prostate cancer and nearly 29,000 deaths from the disease. According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF), it is estimated that there are more than two million American men currently living with prostate cancer.
The PCF reports that prostate cancer "is the most common non-skin cancer in America, affecting one in six men. A non-smoking man is more likely to develop prostate cancer than he is to develop colon, bladder, melanoma, lymphoma and kidney cancers combined. In fact, a man is 35% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than a woman is to be diagnosed with breast cancer. One new case occurs every 2.5 minutes and a man dies from prostate cancer every 19 minutes."
Research continues in an attempt to find effective ways to prevent and treat prostate cancer. Now German scientists have found that higher levels of vitamin K2 in the body may help cut the risk of developing the disease. Read my first report to find out the details.
With summer on the way, it’s time to think about spending hours in the summer sun and what that means for the health of your skin. Prolonged exposure to the sun can cause skin damage, premature aging and possibly skin cancer. It might be a good time to turn to ellagic acid. Researchers believe it may help reduce the damage caused by the sun. See my second report.
Finally, researchers report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that taking vitamin D supplements as part of your weight-loss regimen might boost the health of your cardiovascular system. Check out my last item for more information.
As always, I wish you the very best of health.
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Study Supports Prostate Benefits from Vitamin K
May 2009
An improved vitamin K2 status may reduce the risk of prostate cancer, suggest results from German scientists that build the science linking the vitamin to improved prostate health.
Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center report that an improved status of the vitamin was linked to a lower risk of both advanced-stage prostate cancer and high-grade prostate cancer. The authors, led by Katharina Nimptsch, published their findings in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
According to the European School of Oncology, over half a million new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed every year world wide, and the cancer is the direct cause of over 200,000 deaths. More worryingly, the incidence of the disease is increasing with a rise of 1.7 percent over 15 years.
The study adds to a small but ever-growing body of science supporting the potential health benefits of vitamin K, most notable for bone and blood health, but also recently linked to improved skin health.
Last year, the same researchers reported that increased intakes of vitamin K2, but not K1, were associated with a 35% reduction in prostate cancer risk. The potential benefits of K2 were more pronounced for advanced prostate cancer.
The findings were based on data from the 11,319 men taking part in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Heidelberg cohort, and were published in the April 2008 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Vol. 87, pp. 985-992).
Commenting on the new study, Nimptsch and her co-workers said: "In this nested case-control study including 250 prostate cancer cases and 494 matched controls, we aimed to confirm this cancer-protective effect using serum undercarboxylated osteocalcin (ucOC), a biomarker of vitamin K status inversely associated with vitamin K intake."
A higher ratio of ucOC to intact total osteocalcin (iOC) is indicative of poorer vitamin K status.
Nimptsch and her co-workers recruited 250 people with prostate cancer and 494 healthy controls. Levels of ucOC and iOC were analyzed from serum samples and every 0.1 increment in the ratio was associated with a 38% increase in advanced-stage prostate cancer, and a 21% increase in high-grade prostate cancer. No relationship between ucOC/iOC and total prostate cancer was observed, they said.
"The increased risks of advanced-stage and high-grade prostate cancer with higher serum ucOC/iOC ratio strengthen the findings for dietary menaquinone intake," concluded Nimptsch and her co-workers.
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 18(1):49-56, 2009
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