We’ve all heard how Pancreatic Cancer is just about incurable. It took Patrick Swayze’s life in a few short months, despite him spending millions on his treatment.

Guess what? This “forgotten vitamin” has shown positive results in studies to short circuit Pancreatic Cancer cells,  getting the cells to commit suicide (“apoptosis” or programmed death.) It does the same thing with Prostate Cancer cells.

What if I told you that it shows the same promise against Ovarian cancer, Leukemia and one of the most deadly and fatal forms of liver cancer, “Malignant Hepatoma” or HCC?

And that’s not all it does.

It also unclogs blocked arteries, reverses osteoporosis and might be the missing link in fighting Alzheimer’s. These are all major killers in America today and most likely you or one of your family members or friends is fighting one of these conditions.

Why doesn’t the world know more about this? I asked myself that very same question when we were first developing our super D3+K2/Abc formula.

Vitamin K – The “Forgotten” Vitamin

Eighty years ago in 1929, a Danish researcher discovered that when chicks were fed a fat-free diet, blood leaked out of their arteries and capillaries into the surrounding body tissues. Furthermore, blood taken from these chicks coagulated very slowly.

Delving deeper into the mystery, he discovered that a special substance was required for blood clotting – and that these chicks lacked it because the substance is found only in the fatty parts of food. He dubbed this blood-clotting substance the “Koagulation Vitamin” for the role it plays in blood clotting.

But that is just one of several roles of vitamin K:

• It helps keep bones strong and slows the calcification of tissues
• It also can destroy certain types of cancer cells as I’ve mentioned
• Protect the skin and prevent against Alzheimer’s, diabetes and premature aging

Vitamin K is not a single nutrient, but the name given to a group of vitamins of similar composition. The two main groups of vitamin K that occur naturally are vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and K2 (menaquinone). Vitamin K3 (menadione) is a synthetic form that is manmade and not recommended for use as a nutritional supplement.

Vitamin K1 is found in green, leafy vegetables like kale, collard greens, broccoli, brussels sprouts, parsley as well as canola, soybean and other plant oils, while K2 is produced by bacteria and found in egg yolks, certain cheeses and fermented soybean products like natto, which is a key ingredient in our Nattokinase Max formula.

The body stores limited amounts of Vitamin K in the liver, so this super-vitamin MUST be consumed daily.

Ninety-nine percent of the population are chronically lacking in Vitamin K, which is why I believe we have such epidemic rates of bone diseases like arthritis and osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s (which is calcification of the brain), cancer and leukemia. These are all vitamin K deficiency conditions!

Crucial to Bone Health

Calcium is necessary for strong bones, but incorporating calcium into bone tissue involves a complex series of biochemical steps. One of these is the activation of a protein called osteocalcin during a process known as gamma-carboxylation.

Think of Osteocalcin like the studs in the walls of a house – it is a structural framework that helps hold calcium in place in the bones. But osteocalcin cannot do the job until vitamin K converts it into its active, bone-building form. Vitamin K is like the “key’ that opens the door from the bloodstream to let the Calcium get into the bones and bone marrow factory. No “key” – no strong bones.

Stops Hips from Crumbling and Snapping

In 1998, researchers used data from the prestigious Nurses’ Health Study to examine the link between vitamin K and hip fractures in women. The diets of over 70,000 women, ranging in age from 38 to 63, were analyzed for 10 years.

The researchers found that consuming even a low dosage of vitamin K every day reduced the risk of breaking a hip by approximately 30%. Studies document that for optimization of the bone protein osteocalcin adults would do well with a daily vitamin K intake of 1000 mcg or 1 mg. Currently the average vitamin K intake in this country is only 75 to 125 mcg.

I think that a higher dosage level we could nearly wipe out these crippling occurrences overnight! Japan approved vitamin K as treatment for osteoporosis in 1995 (15 years ago) and is regulated as a pharmaceutical drug at the outrageous cost of over $287 a month!

You’re Only as Young as Your Arteries

Latest research says that just as vitamin K helps direct calcium to the bone and holds it there, it also helps keep calcium out of the linings of arteries and other body tissues, where it can be dangerous.

The arteries that carry fresh blood throughout the body are normally pliable, contracting and relaxing on command to keep the blood flowing smoothly. But over time, they tend to thicken and stiffen as the body deposits calcium into the artery walls.

This condition, known as “arteriosclerosis”, or hardening of the arteries is a giant risk factor for heart disease and stroke. The amount of arterial calcification is a clear indicator of one’s cardiovascular health.

Studies in large population groups show that significant calcification in a person actually makes them older than their chronological age. On the contrary, older people with little or no calcification may deduct up to 10 to 15 years from their actual age.

In a 2002 study, researchers compared vitamin K levels to the amount of calcification in the coronary arteries of 600 men. They found that men with the lowest vitamin K levels had much more calcification in their coronary arteries than did men with better vitamin K.

By regulating calcium, vitamin K simultaneously reduces the risk of both osteoporosis and arteriosclerosis.

Pancreatic, Ovarian, Prostate Cancer Breakthroughs

A flurry of new studies just released say that vitamin K dramatically combats cancer. This is GIANT NEWS to me, as it means we are on the brink of being able to literally “cancer-proof” the body with vitamin K and other natural compounds. Vitamin K plays a role in cell replication, transformation and survival. It can inhibit cell growth and even encourages the suicide (apoptosis) of Pancreatic and Ovarian cancer cells and Leukemia cells.

The largest study yet on Prostate Cancer, the Heidelberg Cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, showed dramatically reduced incidence of Prostate Cancer with those with the highest daily intake of vitamin K!

But it doesn’t stop there!

• Alzheimer’s – vitamin K helps regulate brain biochemistry. A vitamin K deficiency is a contributing factor to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
• Bruising – University of Miami researchers looked for ways to prevent the significant bruising that accompanies such cosmetic procedures as pulsed dye laser treatment. In a study of 22 patients, they found that applying topical vitamin K to the face after laser treatment significantly reduced the severity of bruising.
• Blood sugar regulation – relatively large amounts of vitamin K are found in the pancreas, the organ that manufactures the insulin that regulates blood sugar. In a study with laboratory animals, Japanese researchers found that a deficiency of Vitamin K interferes with insulin release and glucose regulation in ways similar to diabetes.
• Protection against cell damage – Vitamin K also has dramatic antioxidant properties helping to prevent accumulating oxidation damage to cells and tissues and slowing down the “hands of time” and the aging process.
• Varicose Veins – by removing accumulated calcification and plaque from veins and arteries, vitamin K2 has dramatic effect on the actual formation of varicose veins and also reverses this painful condition with regular, daily supplementation.

Further Tips & Suggestions:

• Increase your intake of all soy based foods like Natto, Tofu, Tempeh and Miso as they are high in vitamin K2.
• Forward this newsletter to your cardiologist and ask him or her why they didn’t tell you about vitamin K. Do the same to your oncologist if you’re fighting Pancreatic, Liver, Prostate or Ovarian Cancer.
• Exercise every single day for 60 minutes in a split of aerobic and weight resistance. This super-activates the vitamins D3 and the K2 in the bloodstream.
• Have a bowl of my Miracle Potassium Broth every day at lunch or dinner; it’s brimming with vitamin D-3 and K-2 in every spoonful.
• Thank God for creating these extraordinary treasures.

As always, here’s to your Contagious Health!

Dr. G

Cancer, Contagious Health, Senior Health