100% Customer Satisfaction Guarantee
America's #1 Rated Catalog/Internet Brand
Based on Customer Satisfaction†
Lee Swanson Research Update
Vitamin K Protects Against Liver Cancer
August 2007
Researchers in Japan investigating whether vitamin K could prevent bone loss in women with liver disease have uncovered a surprising, secondary benefit—the vitamin also helped to prevent liver cancer in the patients.
People with viral cirrhosis from diseases such as hepatitis C are at an increased risk of developing liver cancer—about 80% of people with hepatocellular carcinomas have cirrhosis.
The scientists at Osaka City University gave 21 women with viral liver cirrhosis a daily supplement of 45 mg vitamin K2 (menaquinone) for a period of two years. A group of 19 women with the disease received a placebo for the same time.
Liver cancer was detected in only two of the 21 women given vitamin K2 but nine of the 19 women in the control group. After adjustment for age, severity of disease and treatment, the researchers found the women receiving vitamin K supplementation were nearly 90% less likely to develop liver cancer.
It is not clear how vitamin K may prevent liver cancer, but previous findings have indicated that vitamin K2 may play a role in controlling cell growth, noted the researchers. They concluded that "there is a possible role for vitamin K2 in the prevention of hepatocellular carcinoma in women with viral cirrhosis."
JAMA 292(3):358-361, 2007
