The Bone-Vasculature Axis: Calcium Supplementation and the Role of Vitamin K

Grzegorz B. Wasilewski, Marc G. Vervloet, Leon J. Schurgers*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal(Systematic) Review article peer-review

71 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Calcium supplements are broadly prescribed to treat osteoporosis either asmonotherapy or together with vitamin D to enhance calcium absorption. It is still unclear whether calcium supplementation significantly contributes to the reduction of bone fragility and fracture risk. Data suggest that supplementing post-menopausal women with high doses of calcium has a detrimental impact on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients are prone to vascular calcification in part due to impaired phosphate excretion. Calcium-based phosphate binders further increase risk of vascular calcification progression. In both bone and vascular tissue, vitamin K-dependent processes play an important role in calcium homeostasis and it is tempting to speculate that vitamin K supplementation might protect from the potentially untoward effects of calcium supplementation. This review provides an update on current literature on calcium supplementation among post-menopausal women and CKD patients and discusses underlying molecular mechanisms of vascular calcification. We propose therapeutic strategies with vitamin K2 treatment to prevent or hold progression of vascular calcification as a consequence of excessive calcium intake.

Original languageEnglish
Article number6
Pages (from-to)1-16
Number of pages16
JournalFrontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine
Volume6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Feb 2019

Keywords

  • CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASE
  • CHRONIC KIDNEY-DISEASE
  • CORONARY-HEART-DISEASE
  • GAMMA-CARBOXYGLUTAMIC ACID
  • MATRIX GLA-PROTEIN
  • MINERAL DENSITY
  • POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN
  • RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED-TRIAL
  • SMOOTH-MUSCLE-CELLS
  • X PHOSPHATE PRODUCT
  • bone loss
  • calcium paradox
  • calcium supplements
  • vascular calcification
  • vitamin K

Cite this