Vitamin K Improves Cognitive Function

Vitamin K is a vital fat-soluble antioxidant, working with other fat-soluble antioxidants such as carotenes, tocotrienols, and lipoic acid, to protect various structures in your body. It is also needed to attach calcium to bones and prevent calcium from ending up in the wrong places, such as helping to stiffen your arteries. A new study shows that having adequate vitamin K over the course of a lifetime is also important for cognitive function.

Researchers are now finding that vitamin K¹ plays an important role in maintaining the white matter region of the brain by supporting the myelin sheathing that protects your axons, connecting your glial cells together with axons, and facilitating the speed at which your brain functions. It is not surprising that these fatty tissues in your brain would have a high preference for fat-soluble antioxidants—including vitamin K.

In this animal study, rats were kept on either a low, adequate, or high level of vitamin K over the course of their lifetimes. The low vitamin K group had significant declines in cognitive function as they grew older, compared to the high vitamin K group.

It is appalling that the medical professional community continually blocks vitamin K function in the human body with Coumadin. I have previously reported human evidence showing that this weakens bones and increases calcification of the arteries, while also exposing patients to life-threatening bleeding issues and hemorrhage-type strokes. While this is an animal study, it shows that this drug is likely to contribute to cognitive decline, which doctors giving the drug would not consider as a side effect linked to the drug. I, therefore, need to point out the potential adverse effects to anyone on this medication. I am also making the point that vitamin K adequacy is not only important for your bones, blood sugar metabolism and arterial health, it is also likely to help preserve your cognitive ability.