Adequate intake of phylloquinones (vitamin K) from food sources may help guard against the development of metabolic syndrome
​Metabolic syndrome is defined as the presence of a cluster of risk factors that increase the odds of developing of developing diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. These risk factors include abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, elevated triglyceride levels, high fasting blood sugar, and low concentrations of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. This study examined the association between the consumption of dietary phylloquinones (vitamin K) and the likelihood of developing metabolic syndrome in US young adults. Researchers analyzed the nutritional and clinical data of 5800 subjects between the ages of 20-45 years recruited from the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) cohort.
The team of investigators discovered that subjects with high intake foods rich in vitamin K had the lowest risk of developing metabolic syndrome. According to this study, increased consumption of foods with high vitamin K content was found to elevate HDL cholesterol levels, reduce plasma concentrations of triglycerides, improve blood pressure numbers, and maintain blood sugar levels within a healthy range. The findings of this study indicate that high dietary ingestion of dietary phylloquinone may help to reduce the rates of metabolic syndrome and subsequently diabetes, heart disease, and stroke among the population of young adults in the United States.