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On the Trail of the Elusive X-Factor: A Sixty-Two-Year-Old Mystery Finally Solved

Written by Chris Masterjohn Thursday, 14 February 2008 02:16

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Article Summary On the Trail of the Elusive X-Factor (Main Article) A Sixty-Year Mystery Vitamin K: Three Discoveries Converge Perfect Correspondence Synergy with Vitamins A and D Vitamin K2 and Dental Health Vitamin K2 and Bone Health Vitamin K2 and Heart Disease Vitamin K2 and the Brain Other Roles of Vitamin K2 Vitamin K2 in Foods Figures Figure 1: The Structure of K Vitamins and Their Chemical Behavior Figure 2: Corresponding Characteristics of Activator X and Vitamin K2

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Figure 3: Vitamin K-Dependent Carboxylation Figure 4: Vitamin K2 Contents of Selected Foods Sidebars The Activator X Test Interactions between Vitamins A, D, and K2 Is Vitamin K2 an Essential Nutrient? The Vitamin K-Dependent Carboxylase Vitamin K2 and the Brain: A Closer Look Bacterial Production of Vitamin K2 Supplementing with Vitamin K2 References Follow Up Questions & Answers Article Summary

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In 1945, Dr. Weston Price described "a new vitamin-like activator" that played an influential role in the utilization of minerals, protection from tooth decay, growth and development, reproduction, protection against heart disease and the function of the brain. Using a chemical test, he determined that this compoundwhich he called Activator Xoccurred in the butterfat, organs and fat of animals consuming rapidly growing green grass, and also in certain sea foods such as fish eggs. Dr. Price died before research by Russian scientists became known in the West. These scientists used the same chemical

test to measure a compound similar to vitamin K. Vitamin K2 is produced by animal tissues, including the mammary glands, from vitamin K1, which occurs in rapidly growing green plants. A growing body of published research confirms Dr. Price's discoveries, namely that vitamin K 2 is important for the utilization of minerals, protects against tooth decay, supports growth and development, is involved in normal reproduction, protects against calcification of the arteries leading to heart disease, and is a major component of the brain. Vitamin K2 works synergistically with the two other "fat-soluble activators" that Price studied, vitamins A and D. Vitamins A and D signal to the cells to produce certain proteins and vitamin K then activates these proteins. Vitamin K2 plays a crucial role in the development of the facial bones, and its presence in the diets of nonindustrialized peoples explains the wide facial structure and freedom from dental deformities that Weston Price observed. Main Article (On the Trail of the Elusive X-Factor)

In 1945, Weston Price published a second edition of his pioneering work Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, to which he added a new chapter entitled, "A New Vitamin-Like Activator."1 In it, he presented evidence of a theretofore unrecognized fat-soluble substance that played a fundamental role in the utilization of minerals and whose absence from modern nutrition was responsible for the proliferation of dental caries and other degenerative diseases. Although Price quantified the relative amount of this substance in thousands of samples of dairy products sent to him from around the world, he never determined its precise chemical identity. For want of a better means of identification, he referred to it as "Activator X," also sometimes referred to as the "Price Factor." Price found the highest concentrations of this nutrient in "the milk of several species, varying with the nutrition of the

animal" and found the combination of cod liver oil and high-Activator X butter to be superior to that of cod liver oil alone. In the many butter samples he tested, Activator X was only present when the animals were eating rapidly growing green grass. In most regions, this occurred in the spring and early fall. A Sixty-Year Mystery

For over sixty years, all attempts to identify this elusive "X" factor have failed. In the 1940s, Dr. Royal Lee, founder of the whole food supplement company Standard Process, suggested that activator X was the essential fatty acids.2 In 1980, Dr. Jeffrey Bland suggested more specifically that it was the elongated omega-3 essential fatty acid called EPA.3 Although these fatty acids exert some effects on calcium metabolism,4 neither the distribution of these unsaturated fatty acids in foods nor their chemical behavior corresponds to that of Activator X. Cod liver oil is much richer than butter in essential fatty acids including EPA, and the oils of plant seeds are even richer in these fats, but Price found little, if any, Activator X in these foods. Moreover, Price tested for Activator X by quantifying the ability of a food to oxidize iodide to iodine; essential fatty acids, however, do not possess this chemical ability. In 1982, one author wrote to the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation that after pursuing a number of false leads while attempting to identify the X factor, he had concluded that the "peculiar behavior" observed in Price's chemical test might be due to a "special kind of oxygen-containing heterocyclic ring," and suggested a compound called 6-methoxybenzoxazolinone (MBOA) as a likely candidate.5 Although researchers first identified MBOA as an antifungal agent found in corn,6 later studies showed that it was found in many other plant foods and acted as a reproductive stimulant in some animals by mimicking the hormone melatonin.7 Although it is present in young, rapidly growing grass, no research has ever established MBOA as an essential nutrient, attributed to it any of the physiological roles of Activator X, or demonstrated its presence in the foods that

Price considered to be the richest sources of this nutrient. MBOA, then, was just another false lead; we will soon see, however, that the writer's observations about the chemical nature of Activator X were largely correct. Vitamin K: Three Discoveries Converge

The test that Price used for Activator X, called iodometric determination, was traditionally regarded within the English language literature as a test for peroxides (carbon-containing molecules that have been damaged by oxygen).8,9 Since peroxides do not have any activity as vitamins, the relationship between the test and any nutritional substance remained a mystery. Although researchers publishing in other languages were using the test to detect a class of chemicals called quinones at least as far back as 1910,10 it was not until 1972 that Danish researchers published a paper in the British Journal of Nutrition showing that the test could be used to detect biological quinones such as K vitamins in animal tissues. 12 K vitamins (Figure 1) possess oxygen-containing ring structures that are capable of oxidizing iodide to iodine and would therefore be detected by Price's Activator X test. The K vitamins are likely to go down in history as the most misunderstood group of vitamins of the twentieth century. In many ways, however, modern researchers are now rediscovering properties of these vitamins that Price had discovered over sixty years ago. It has now become clear that both Activator X and its precursor in rapidly growing grass are both members of this group. There are two natural forms of vitamin K: vitamin K1 and vitamin K2. Vitamin K1, also called phylloquinone, is found in the green tissues of plants, tightly embedded within the membrane of the photosynthesizing organelle called the chloroplast. As the chlorophyll within this organelle absorbs energy from sunlight, it releases high-energy electrons; vitamin K1 forms a bridge between chlorophyll and several iron-sulfur centers across which these electrons travel, releasing their energy so that the cell can ultimately use it to synthesize glucose.13

When animals consume vitamin K1, their tissues convert part of it into vitamin K2,14 which fulfills a host of physiological functions in the animal that we are only now beginning to understand. The ability to make this conversion varies widely not only between species14 but even between strains of laboratory rats,15,16 and has not been determined in humans. The mammary glands appear to be especially efficient at making this conversion, presumably because vitamin K 2 is essential for the growing infant.17 Vitamin K2 is also produced by lactic acid bacteria,18 although bacteria produce forms of the vitamin that are chemically different from those that animals produce, and researchers have not yet established the differences in biological activity between these forms. Although both K vitamins were discovered and characterized over the course of the 1930s, two fundamental misunderstandings about these vitamins persisted for over sixty years: the medical and nutritional communities considered blood clotting to be their only role in the body, and considered vitamins K1 and K2 to simply be different forms of the same vitamin. The first vitamin K-dependent protein relating to skeletal metabolism was not discovered until 1978. It was not until 1997, nearly twenty years later, that the recognition that vitamin K was "not just for clotting anymore" broke out of the confines of the fundamental vitamin K research community.19 Since the amount of vitamin K1 in typical diets is ten times greater than that of vitamin K2,20 researchers have tended to dismiss the contribution of K2 to nutritional status as insignificant. Yet over the last few years, a growing body of research is demonstrating that these two substances are not simply different forms of the same vitamin, but are better seen as two different vitamins: whereas K1 is preferentially used by the liver to activate blood clotting proteins, K 2 is preferentially used by the other tissues to place calcium where it belongs, in the bones and teeth, and keep it out of where it does not belong, in the soft tissues.21 Acknowledging this research, the United States Department of Agriculture, in conjunction with researchers from Tufts University, finally determined the vitamin K2 contents of foods in the U.S. diet for the first time in

2006.22 Perfect Correspondence

Because vitamin K1 is directly associated with both chlorophyll and beta-carotene within a single protein complex and plays a direct role in photosynthesis,13 the richness of the green color of grass, its rate of growth, and its brix rating (which measures the density of organic material produced by the plant) all directly indicate its concentration of vitamin K 1. Animals grazing on grass will accumulate vitamin K2 in their tissues in direct proportion to the amount of vitamin K1 in their diet. The beta-carotene associated with vitamin K1 will also impart a yellow or orange color to butterfat; the richness of this color therefore indirectly indicates the amount of both vitamins K1 and K2 in the butter. Not only are the K vitamins detected by the Activator X test and distributed in the food supply precisely as Price suggested, but, as shown in Figure 2, the physiological actions that Price attributed to Activator X correspond perfectly to those of vitamin K 2. It is therefore clear that the precursor to Activator X found in rapidly growing, green grass is none other than vitamin K 1, while Activator X itself is none other than vitamin K2. Ironically, Price discovered the roles of vitamin K2 in calcium metabolism, the nervous system and the cardiovascular system more than sixty years before the vitamin K research community began elucidating these roles itself, while vitamin K researchers discovered the chemical structure of activator X several years before Price even proposed its existence. Had Price been aware that his chemical test had been used for decades outside of the English language scientific community to detect quinones, a class to which the K vitamins belong, the two independent discoveries of this one vitamin may have converged sooner. Instead, English-speaking researchers continued for decades to labor under the illusion that the iodometric method detected

only peroxides; by the time this illusion was corrected, better methods for detecting peroxides had already been developed, Activator X had been forgotten, and the opportunity to make the connection between these three discoveries was lost. The twenty-first century, however, is already making radical revisions to our understanding of the K vitamins, which now make it clearer than ever that Activator X and vitamin K2 are one and the same. Synergy with Vitamins A and D

Price showed Activator X to exhibit dramatic synergy with vitamins A and D. Chickens voluntarily consumed more butter and died more slowly on a deficiency diet when the butter was high in both vitamin A and Activator X than when it was high in vitamin A alone. Cod liver oil, which is high in both vitamins A and D, partially corrected growth retardation and weak legs in turkeys fed a deficiency diet, but the combination of cod liver oil and high-Activator X butter was twice as effective. Likewise, Price found that the combination of cod liver oil and a high-Activator X butter oil concentrate was more effective than cod liver oil alone in treating his patients for dental caries and other signs of physical degeneration. Vitamin K2 is the substance that makes the vitamin A- and vitamin D-dependent proteins come to life. While vitamins A and D act as signaling molecules, telling cells to make certain proteins, vitamin K2 activates these proteins by conferring upon them the physical ability to bind calcium. In some cases these proteins directly coordinate the movement or organization of calcium themselves; in other cases the calcium acts as a glue to hold the protein in a certain shape. 33 In all such cases, the proteins are only functional once they have been activated by vitamin K. Osteocalcin, for example, is a protein responsible for organizing the deposition of calcium and phosphorus salts in bones and teeth. Cells only produce this protein in the presence of both vitamins A and D;34 it will only accumulate in the extracellular matrix and facilitate the deposition of calcium salts, however, once it has been activated by vitamin K 2.35 Vitamins A and D

regulate the expression of matrix Gla protein (MGP),36,37 which is responsible for mineralizing bone and protecting the arteries from calcification; like osteocalcin, however, MGP can only fulfill its function once it has been activated by vitamin K2.33 While vitamins A and D contribute to growth by stimulating growth factors and promoting the absorption of minerals, vitamin K2 makes its own essential contribution to growth by preventing the premature calcification of the cartilaginous growth zones of bones.38 Vitamin K2 may also be required for the safety of vitamin D. The anorexia, lethargy, growth retardation, bone resorption, and soft tissue calcification that animals fed toxic doses of vitamin D exhibit bear a striking resemblance to the symptoms of deficiencies in vitamin K or vitamin K-dependent proteins. Warfarin, which inhibits the recycling of vitamin K, enhances vitamin D toxicity and exerts a similar type of toxicity itself. Similarly, the same compounds that inhibit the toxicity of Warfarin also inhibit the toxicity of vitamin D. I have therefore hypothesized elsewhere that vitamin D toxicity is actually a relative deficiency of vitamin K2.39 The synergy with which vitamin K2 interacts with vitamins A and D is exactly the type of synergy that Price attributed to Activator X. Vitamin K2 and Dental Health

Weston Price was primarily interested in Activator X because of its ability to control dental caries. By studying the remains of human skeletons from past eras, he estimated that there had been more dental caries in the preceding hundred years than there had been in any previous thousand-year period and suggested that Activator X was a key substance that people of the past obtained but that modern nutrition did not adequately provide. Price used the combination of high-vitamin cod liver oil and high-Activator X butter oil as the cornerstone of his protocol for reversing dental caries. This protocol not only stopped the progression of tooth decay, but completely reversed it without the need for oral surgery by causing the dentin to grow

and remineralize, sealing what were once active caries with a glassy finish. One 14-year-old girl completely healed 42 open cavities in 24 teeth by taking capsules of the high-vitamin cod liver oil and Activator X concentrate three times a day for seven months. Activator X also influences the composition of saliva. Price found that if he collected the saliva of individuals immune to dental caries and shook it with powdered bone or tooth meal, phosphorus would move from the saliva to the powder; by contrast, if he conducted the same procedure with the saliva of individuals susceptible to dental caries, the phosphorus would move in the opposite direction from the powder to the saliva. Administration of the Activator X concentrate to his patients consistently changed the chemical behavior of their saliva from phosphorus-accepting to phosphorus-donating. The Activator X concentrate also reduced the bacterial count of their saliva. In a group of six patients, administration of the concentrate reduced theLactobacillus acidophilus count from 323,000 to 15,000. In one individual, the combination of cod liver oil and Activator X concentrate reduced the L. acidophilus count from 680,000 to 0. In the 1940s, researchers showed that menadione and related compounds inhibited the bacterial production of acids in isolated saliva.47 Menadione itself is a toxic synthetic analogue of vitamin K, but animal tissues are able to convert a portion of it to vitamin K2. The ability of vitamin K-related compounds to inhibit acid production in isolated saliva had no relationship to their vitamin activity, and the most effective of these compounds had practically no vitamin activity at all.48 Researchers unfortunately assumed that because vitamin K did not have a unique role in inhibiting acid formation in saliva within a test tube that it had no nutritional role in preventing tooth decay within living beings. In 1945, American researchers conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of menadione-laced chewing gum and showed it to reduce the incidence of new cavities and cause a dramatic drop in the L. acidophilus count of saliva.49 The next year, the Army Medical Department attempted to repeat these results but failed, and research on vitamin K and dental

health in the United States was subsequently abandoned.50 The authors of the original study assumed that the menadione exerted its effect simply as a topical anti-bacterial agent, even though it was highly unlikely to sustain a sufficient concentration in the saliva to exert this effect. Ten years later, German researchers showed that injecting menadione into the abdominal cavities of hamsters more effectively prevented tooth decay than feeding it orally.51 Although they could not rule out the possibility that some of this menadione was secreted into the saliva, their results argued in favor of a nutritional role for the vitamin K2 that would have been produced from it. Despite this finding, to this day no one has investigated the role of natural K vitamins in the prevention of dental caries. Nevertheless, our continually expanding understanding of the physiology of both K vitamins and teeth now makes it clear that vitamin K2 plays an essential role in dental health. Of all organs in the body, vitamin K2exists in the second highest concentration in the salivary glands (the highest concentration is found in the pancreas). Even when rats are fed only K 1, nearly all of the vitamin K in their salivary glands exists as K2.15Both vitamin K52 and vitamin K-dependent proteins53 are secreted into the saliva, although their function is unknown. We now know that the growth and mineralization of the dentin that Price observed in response to the combination of cod liver oil and Activator X concentrate would primarily require three essential factors: vitamins A, D, and K 2. There are three calcified tissues of the teeth: the cementum forms the roots, the enamel forms the surface, and the dentin forms the support structure beneath it. Cells called odontoblasts lining the surface of the pulp just beneath the dentin continually produce new dentin material. If a cavity invades the dentin and reaches these cells they can die. The pulp tissue, however, contains stem cells that can differentiate into new odontoblasts that could regenerate the lost dentin if the right conditions were present.54 Dentin is unique among the tissues of the teeth for its expression of osteocalcin, a vitamin K-dependent protein better

known for its role in organizing the deposition of calcium and phosphorus salts in bone. In the infant rat, whose teeth grow very rapidly, dentin manufactures much more osteocalcin than bone does, suggesting that osteocalcin plays an important role in the growth of new dentin. Matrix Gla protein (MGP), which is required for the mineralization of bone, is also expressed in dentin.55 Vitamins A and D signal odontoblasts to produce osteocalcin,56,57 and probably regulate their expression of MGP as well. Only after vitamin K2 activates these proteins' ability to bind calcium, however, can they lay down the mineral-rich matrix of dentin. The remarkable synergy between these three vitamins exactly mirrors the process Price observed. Vitamin K2 and Bone Health

Price also believed that Activator X played an important role in bone health. Butter oil concentrate cured rickets and increased serum levels of calcium and phosphorus in rats consuming a mineral-deficient diet. In a four-year-old boy who suffered from rampant tooth decay, seizures and a tendency to fracture, the combination of a large helping of this concentrate and a meal of whole wheat and whole milk rapidly resolved each of these symptoms. Although the small amount of vitamin D in the butter oil was probably sufficient to cure rickets and the combination of vitamins A and D most likely produced the rise in serum calcium and phosphorus,58 vitamin K2has a definite role in bone health. There are at least two vitamin K-dependent proteins that fulfill important functions in skeletal metabolism: matrix Gla protein (MGP) and osteocalcin. In 1997, researchers from the University of Texas and the University of Montreal developed mice that lacked the gene that codes for MGP. These mice appeared normal for the first two weeks of their lives, after which they developed faster heart beats, stopped growing and died within two months with the rupture of their heavily calcified aortas. The disorganization of

their cartilage cells not only produced short stature, but also produced osteopenia and spontaneous fractures.38 The bones of mice that lack the osteocalcin gene mineralize just as well as those of mice that do not lack the gene, but the mineral deposits are organized differently. This could mean that osteocalcin is important to the functional quality of bone and the ability to regulate its shape.59 Isolated human osteoblasts, the cells that lay down the calcified matrix of bone, secrete osteocalcin in response to vitamins A and D.34 The protein-rich matrix surrounding these cells will only accumulate this osteocalcin, however, if it is activated by vitamin K2. Calcification of the extracellular matrix occurs in parallel with the accumulation of osteocalcin, but it is not clear whether this protein plays a direct role in laying down the calcium salts or if its accumulation simply reflects the higher amount of vitamin K2 that is available to activate other proteins involved more directly in mineralization such as MGP.35 When there is an insufficient amount of vitamin K to keep up with the production of vitamin K-dependent proteins, many of these proteins are secreted into the blood in an inactive form. Circulating cells then take up these useless proteins and destroy them.40 By drawing a person's blood and testing the percentages of circulating osteocalcin that are active and inactive, we can determine whether that person's bone cells have enough vitamin K to meet their needs. People with the highest percentages of inactive osteocalcin are at a more than five-fold increased risk of hip fracture,60 confirming the value of the test. By using this test, we can also show that vitamin K2 is the preferred K vitamin of the bones. It takes one milligram per day of a highly absorbable pharmacological preparation of vitamin K1 to maximally activate osteocalcin in human subjects;28 it appears, however, that humans are not capable of absorbing much more than one fifth this amount from whole foods. 24 By contrast, large amounts of vitamin K2 are readily absorbed from foods.26 Even when using highly absorbable forms of these vitamins, vitamin K2 is much more effective. Researchers from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands recently

showed that over the course of 40 days, vitamin K2 was three times more effective than vitamin K1 at raising the percentage of activated osteocalcin. Moreover, the effect of vitamin K1 reached a plateau after just three days, whereas the effect of vitamin K2 increased throughout the entire study. Had it lasted longer, the study may have shown an even greater superiority of vitamin K2.32 We can therefore regard the percentage of inactive osteocalcin primarily as a marker for vitamin K 2 status. In the healthy adult population, one hundred percent of the vitamin K-dependent blood coagulants produced by the liver are in their active form. By contrast, in this same population between ten and thirty percent of circulating osteocalcin is in its inactive form. Researchers rarely encounter individuals whose osteocalcin is fully activated.31 This suggests that vitamin K2 deficiency is universal, and that variation in K2 status within the population simply reflects varying degrees of deficiency. Vitamin K1 supplements produce modest decreases in bone loss in the elderly. A number of Japanese trials, on the other hand, have shown that vitamin K2 completely reverses bone loss and in some cases even increases bone mass in populations with osteoporosis.31 The pooled results of seven Japanese trials show that vitamin K2 supplementation produces a 60 percent reduction in vertebral fractures and an 80 percent reduction in hip and other non-vertebral fractures.61 These studies used extremely high amounts of vitamin K2 and did not observe any adverse effects over the course of several years. Since they used such high doses of K2, however, and no studies have tested lower doses, they do not constitute definitive proof that the vitamin activity rather than some drug-like action unique to the high dose produced such dramatic results. The balance of the evidence, however, suggests that vitamin K2 is essential to skeletal health and that it is a key substance that modern diets do not adequately provide. Vitamin K2 and Heart Disease

Price analyzed more than 20,000 samples of dairy products sent to him every two to four weeks from various districts of the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil and New Zealand. Dividing the total area into many districts, each producing dairy products with different patterns of seasonal fluctuation in vitamin A and Activator X content, he found an inverse relationship in each district between the vitamin content of butterfat and the mortality from pneumonia and heart disease. The role of vitamin A in the immune system is well established. We do not currently know, however, whether vitamin K2 plays an important role in the immune system. Nevertheless, lymph glands and bone marrow accumulate large amounts of it62 and a vitamin K-dependent protein called gas6 plays a role in phagocytosis,33a process wherein immune cells destroy and consume foreign cells or the body's own cells when they are infected or no longer needed. It is therefore possible that K vitamins could play an important role in protecting against infectious diseases such as pneumonia. Vitamin K2's ability to protect us from heart disease is much more clearly established. Research is in fact rapidly redefining heart disease largely as a deficiency of this vitamin. While it is most clearly established that vitamin K 2 deficiency causes calcification of the cardiovascular system, vitamin K2 appears to protect against the inflammation and accumulation of lipids and white blood cells that characterize atherosclerosis as well. Cardiovascular calcification can begin as early as the second decade of life, and is nearly ubiquitous in the population by the age of 65.33 There are primarily two types: calcification of the heart valves and tunica media constitutes one type, while calcification of the tunica intima constitutes the second. The tunica media is the middle layer of the artery; it contains elastic fibers that allow the artery to stretch and accommodate varying degrees of pressure. The elastic fibers of the tunica media and the valves of the heart calcify during diabetes, kidney disease and aging. The tunica intima is the innermost layer of the artery and is the site where atherosclerosis develops. In atherosclerosis, calcified deposits rich in lipids and white blood cells accumulate on the debris left behind by the blood vessel's smooth muscle cells once they have died.63

In healthy arteries, the vitamin K-dependent matrix Gla protein (MGP) congregates around the elastic fibers of the tunica media and guards them against the formation of crystals by the calcium that circulates in the blood. The inactive form of MGP, which cells produce when they do not have sufficient K vitamins to meet their needs, does not exist in healthy arteries. In early atherosclerosis, by contrast, most MGP exists in its inactive form and associates with calcified structures containing lipids, white blood cells, and the remnants of dead smooth muscle cells. Inactive MGP also accumulates within the calcified deposits of the medial sclerosis that occurs during diabetes, kidney disease and aging. Although blood tests for the percentage of inactive and active MGP are not available, patients with severe calcifications have high percentages of inactive osteocalcin, indicating a general deficiency of vitamin K2.63 Two other vitamin K-dependent proteins are likely to play a role in the development of atherosclerosis: gas6 and protein S. Gas6 promotes the survival of the smooth muscle cells that line the intima and the rapid clearance of those that die. The rapid clearance of these dead cells may be important for preventing the accumulation of the calcified lipids and white blood cells that gather around them. Protein S guides the immune system to clear away this debris from the intima gently rather than mounting a dangerous inflammatory attack against it.33 As these observations all predict, experimental and epidemiological evidence both show that vitamin K2 is a powerful inhibitor of cardiovascular disease. Mice that lack the gene for MGP develop extensive calcification of the aorta, aortic valves and arteries soon after birth and bleed to death within two months when their heavily calcified aortas rupture.38 Warfarin, which inhibits the recycling of K vitamins40 and the conversion of K1 to K2,64 causes calcification of the tunica media in rats within two weeks,21 increases arterial stiffness, decreases the ability of the artery to accommodate moderately high levels of blood pressure, and causes the death of the artery's smooth muscle cells.65 Marcoumar, a similar drug, doubles the degree of aortic valve calcification in humans over the course of one to three years.42

Large amounts of vitamin K2 completely inhibit the ability of Warfarin to cause arterial calcification in rats. Vitamin K1, by contrast, has no inhibitory effect at all.21 Researchers from the University of Maastricht recently showed that both K vitamins can reverse calcification that has already occurred in Wistar Kyoto rats.65 The K vitamins also reduced the number of dead smooth muscle cells after Warfarin treatment, showing that vitamin K-dependent proteins not only promote cell survival but also facilitate the safe clearance of cells that have died. Although both K vitamins were effective, these rats convert vitamin K1 to vitamin K2 with great efficiency. In the absence of Warfarin, two-thirds of the vitamin K in the blood vessels of the rats that consumed K1 alone existed as K2. In the presence of Warfarin, however, which inhibits the conversion, none of the vitamin K in these blood vessels existed as K2. Apparently, vitamin K1 is effective after but not during Warfarin treatment because it can only protect against arterial calcification insofar as it is converted to vitamin K 2. In the Nurses' Health Study, the risk of heart disease was a modest 16 percent lower for those consuming more than 110 micrograms per day of vitamin K1, but there was no benefit from consuming any more than this.66 This small amount is equivalent to consuming only three servings of kale per month. The Health Professionals Follow-Up Study generated a similar finding in men, although it lost significance after adjustment for other dietary risk factors.67 It isn't clear whether the slight increase in risk associated with only the lowest intakes reflects the possibility that only very small amounts of vitamin K1 are absorbed, or simply reflects the association between K1 intake and a healthy lifestyle. People who consume more vitamin K1 weigh less, smoke less, eat more fruits, vegetables, fish, folate, vitamin E and fiber,68 and are more likely to use vitamin supplements.67 The inverse association between heart disease and vitamin K2 intake is more straightforward. In The Rotterdam Study, which prospectively followed just over 4,600 men aged 55 or older in the Netherlands, the highest intake of vitamin K 2 was associated with a 52 percent lower risk of severe aortic calcification, a 41 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease

(CHD), a 51 percent lower risk of CHD mortality, and a 26 percent lower risk of total mortality. Even though the study population consumed ten times more K1 than K2, vitamin K1 had no association with either the degree of aortic calcification or the risk of heart disease.20 The profound effects of variations in such small amounts of dietary K2 emphasize just how powerful this substance is in the prevention of degenerative disease. Vitamin K2 and the Brain

Price supplied several anecdotes suggesting that Activator X plays an important role in the nervous system. Price administered a daily meal of nutrient-dense whole foods supplemented with high-vitamin cod liver oil and high-Activator X butter oil to the children of impoverished mill workers who suffered from rampant tooth decay. The treatment not only resolved the tooth decay without the need for oral surgery, but resolved chronic fatigue in one boy and by the report of their school teachers produced a marked increase in learning capacity in two others. Price also administered the butter oil concentrate to a four-year-old who suffered from rampant tooth decay, a fractured leg and seizures. A dessert spoonful of the butter oil served over whole wheat gruel with whole milk once before bed and five times over the course of the following day immediately resolved his seizures. Rapid healing of his fracture and dental caries followed soon after. The fact that these three symptoms appeared together and resolved following the same treatment suggests a common cause for each of them. Sixty years later, modern research is now elucidating the essential role that vitamin K2 plays not only in the dental and skeletal systems, but in the nervous system as well. This strongly suggests it was the key unidentified factor in Price's protocol. The brain contains one of the highest concentrations of vitamin K2 in the body; only the pancreas, salivary glands, and the cartilaginous tissue of the sternum contain more. When male Wistar rats consume vitamin K1alone, 98 percent of the

vitamin K in their brains exists as K2, demonstrating the overwhelming preference of the nervous system for this form. The K2 contents of these four tissues remain remarkably high on a vitamin K-deficient diet, suggesting either that the vitamin is so essential to their function that they have developed a highly efficient means of preserving it, or that it plays a unique role in these tissues that does not require as high a rate of turnover as is required by the roles it plays in most other tissues.15 An analysis of three autopsies showed that vitamin K2 makes up between 70 and 93 percent of the vitamin K in the human brain.69 It is not clear why humans exhibit greater variation in this percentage than rats, although it could be that we convert K1 less efficiently and are therefore more dependent on dietary K2. Vitamin K2 supports the enzymes within the brain that produce an important class of lipids called sulfatides. The levels of vitamin K2, vitamin K-dependent proteins and sulfatides in the brain decline with age; the decline of these levels is in turn associated with age-related neurological degeneration.46 Comparisons of human autopsies associate the early stages of Alzheimer's disease with up to 93 percent lower sulfatide levels in the brain.70 Warfarin treatment or dietary vitamin K deficiency causes lack of exploratory behavior and reduced physical activity in rats that is suggestive of fatigue. 71 Animals that completely lack the enzymes to make sulfatides and a related class of lipids, cerebrosides, progressively suffer from growth retardation, loss of locomotor activity, weak legs and seizures.72 These observations suggest that deficiencies in vitamin K, especially vitamin K2, could result in fatigue and learning difficulties in humans, and that rare, extreme deficiencies of vitamin K2 in the brain could result in seizures. If this is the case, it would explain why Price observed tooth decay, bone fracture, learning difficulties and seizures to share a common cause and a common solution. Other Roles of Vitamin K2

Our understanding of the K vitamins is rapidly expanding and we are likely to discover many new roles for them as the twenty-first century progresses. The highest concentration of vitamin K2 exists in the salivary glands and the pancreas. These organs exhibit an overwhelming preference for K2 over K1 and retain high amounts of the vitamin even when animals consume a vitamin Kdeficient diet.15 The high presence of the vitamin in both of these organs suggests a role in activating digestive enzymes, although its apparent role in the regulation of blood sugar could explain its presence in the pancreas. 76 The testes of male rats also exhibit a high preference for and retention of vitamin K2,16 and human sperm possess a vitamin K-dependent protein with an unknown function.77 The kidneys likewise accumulate large amounts of vitamin K269 and secrete vitamin Kdependent proteins that inhibit the formation of calcium salts. Patients with kidney stones secrete this protein in its inactive form, which is between four and twenty times less effective than its active form at inhibiting the growth of calcium oxalate crystals, suggesting that vitamin K2 deficiency is a major cause of kidney stones.77 The use of Warfarin during pregnancy produces developmental malformations of the face; as the nasal cartilage calcifies, growth of the nose comes to an early end, resulting in a stubby appearance.78 Vitamin K2 therefore most certainly played a role in the development of beautiful faces with broad features that Price observed among primitive peoples. A number of cell experiments have shown that vitamin K2 has powerful anti-carcinogenic properties that may make it useful in preventing or treating cancer in humans.79 Researchers have recently discovered a whole new class of vitamin K-dependent proteins called transmembrane Gla (TMG) proteins. Their functions are unknown.33 The K vitamins perform all of their well understood roles in the part of the cell responsible for the modification of proteins. Only a portion of the vitamin K within a cell exists in this area, however. Even more exists in the inner membrane of the

mitochondria where the cell produces its energy.45 The greatest concentration exists in the nucleus, which possesses a receptor for vitamin K that may be involved in regulating the expression of genes.44Vitamin K2 has a greater affinity than vitamin K1 for both the mitochondrial membrane and the nuclear receptor. We presently know virtually nothing about these functions of the K vitamins and the plot will only thicken as the story unfolds. Vitamin K2 in Foods

Figure 4 shows the distribution of vitamin K2 in selected foods. Precise values for the organ meats that would be richest in K2 are not available. The pancreas and salivary glands would be richest; reproductive organs, brains, cartilage and possibly kidneys would also be very rich; finally, bone would be richer than muscle meat.15,16,69 Analyses of fish eggs, which Price found to be rich in Activator X, are not available. Commercial butter is only a moderate source of vitamin K2. After analyzing over 20,000 samples of butter sent to him from around the world, however, Price found that the Activator X concentration varied 50-fold. Vitamin K-rich cereal grasses, especially wheat grass, and alfalfa in a lush green state of growth produced the highest amounts of Activator X, but the soil in which the pasture was grown also profoundly influenced the quality of the butter. The concentrations were lowest in the eastern and far western states where the soil had been tilled the longest, and were highest in Deaf Smith County, Texas, where excavations proved the roots of the wheat grass to pass down six feet or more through three feet of top soil into deposits of glacial pebbles cemented together with calcium carbonate. It was this amazingly vitamin-rich butter that had such dramatic curative properties when combined with high-vitamin cod liver oil and nutrient-dense meals of whole milk, whole grains, organ meats, bone broths, fruits and vegetables. For over 50 years after Price described his discovery of Activator X, the medical and nutritional communities saw vitamin K

merely as a requirement for blood clotting. The poor understanding of the functions of the K vitamins within the body and the apparent lack of any relationship between Price's chemical test and the structure of any known vitamin made it impossible to determine the identity of this mysterious substance. We now know, however, that vitamin K 2 and Activator X are one and the same. Like Price's X factor, vitamin K2 is synthesized by animal bodies from its precursor in rapidly growing grass. Cereal grasses and alfalfa are rich in this precursor, and these plants accumulate it in direct proportion to their photosynthetic activity. It is critical to the ability of teeth and bones to lay down mineralized tissue, and to the prevention of degenerative diseases of the cardiovascular and nervous systems. It is the key factor that acts in synergy with vitamins A and D: these vitamins command cells to make proteins, but vitamin K brings these proteins to life. It is an "activator," then, in the truest sense of the word, and it is therefore fitting that we knew it for so many decades simply as "Activator X." Thank you to Michael Eiseike, a health researcher from Hokkaido Japan, for originally bringing the Rotterdam Study to our attention and suggesting that vitamin K2 may be the X Factor of Weston Price; and also to David Wetzel of Green Pasture Products for his input and advice. Figures
Figure 1: The Structure of K Vitamins and Their Chemical Behavior

Single lines represent single bonds between carbon atoms; double lines represent double bonds between carbon atoms. Hydrogen atoms are attached to most of the carbons but are not shown. a.

Vitamin K1. The side chain extending to the right of the molecule is monounsaturated. b.

Vitamin K2. The nucleus, composed of two ring structures, is the same as that of vitamin K1. The side chain, however, is polyunsaturated rather than monounsaturated. c.

Either K vitamin would be expected to react with hydriodic acid (HI) by absorbing hydrogen atoms and liberating diatomic iodine (I2). The side chain is abbreviated by the letter "R." d.

If the mixture of the vitamin K and hydriodic acid is combined with a starch indictor, the diatomic iodine liberated by the reaction would turn the starch blue.
Figure 2. Corresponding Characteristics of Activator X and Vitamin K2

Activator X

Vitamin K2

Found in the butterfat of mammalian milk, the eggs of fishes, Found in the butterfat of mammalian milk and the organs and the organs and fats of animals. and fats of animals. Analyses of fish eggs are not available.

Synthesized by animal tissues, including the mammary glands, from a precursor in rapidly growing, green grass.

Synthesized by animal tissues, including the mammary glands, from vitamin K1, which is found in association with the chlorophyll of green plants in proportion to their photosynthetic activity. Its precursor is directly associated with beta-carotene, which imparts a yellow or orange color to butterfat.

The content of this vitamin in butterfat is proportional to the richness of its yellow or orange color.

Liberates diatomic iodine from hydriodic acid during chemical Liberates diatomic iodine from hydriodic acid during chemical testing. testing. Acts synergistically with vitamins A and D. Plays an important role in reproduction. Activates proteins that cells are signaled to produce by vitamins A and D. Synthesized by the reproductive organs in large amounts from vitamin K1 and preferentially retained by these organs on a vitamin K-deficient diet. Sperm possess a K2-dependent protein of unknown function. Contributes to infant and childhood growth by preventing the premature calcification of the cartilaginous growth zones of bones. Activates proteins responsible for the deposition of calcium and phosphorus salts in bones and teeth and the protection of soft tissues from calcification. Is found in the second highest concentration in the salivary glands, and is present in saliva. Protects against the calcification and inflammation of blood vessels and the accumulation of atherosclerotic plaque. The brain contains one of the highest concentrations of vitamin K2, where it is involved in the synthesis of the myelin sheath of nerve cells, which contributes to learning capacity. Deficiency induces fatigue in laboratory animals. Involved in the synthesis of lipids called sulfatides in the brain, an absence of which induces seizures in laboratory animals.

Plays a role in infant growth.

Plays an essential role in mineral utilization and is necessary for the control of dental caries. Increases mineral content and decreases bacterial count of saliva. Intake is inversely associated with heart disease. Increases learning capacity.

Resolved chronic fatigue in one boy. Resolved seizures in one boy.

Figure 3. Vitamin K-Dependent Carboxylation

a.) A carbon dioxide molecule b.) a carboxyl group c.) Vitamin K-dependent carboxylation The vitamin K-dependent carboxylase rearranges the chemical bonds within carbon dioxide molecules. Carboxyl groups contain carbon and oxygen atoms and carry a charge of negative one. Calcium carries a charge of positive two. The side chains of the amino acid glutamate normally carry one carboxyl group; the vitamin K-dependent addition of a second carboxyl group gives these side chains a charge of negative two and thus allows them to bind to calcium, which has the equal and opposite charge. This process transforms glutamate into -carboxyglutamate, abbreviated Gla. For this reason, many vitamin K-dependent proteins, such as matrix Gla protein (MGP), contain "Gla" in their name.
Figure 4: Vitamin K2 Contents of Selected Foods22, 26

The percentage of vitamin K2 present as MK-4 represents that synthesized by animal tissues, while the remainder represents that synthesized by bacteria during fermentation. FOOD VITAMIN K2 (MCG/100G) Natto Goose Liver Paste Hard Cheeses Soft Cheeses 1103.4 369.0 76.3 56.5 (0% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (6% MK-4) (6.5% MK-4)

Egg Yolk (Netherlands) Goose Leg Curd Cheeses Egg Yolk (United States) Butter Chicken Liver Salami Chicken Breast Chicken Leg Bacon Calf Liver Sauerkraut Whole Milk 2% Milk Salmon Mackerel Egg White Skim Milk Fat-Free Meats

32.1 31.0 24.8 15.5 15.0 14.1 9.0 8.9 8.5 5.6 5.0 4.8 1.0 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.0 0.0

(98% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (1.6% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (8% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (100% MK-4) (100% MK-4)

Ground Beef (Medium Fat) 8.1

SIDEBARS
The Activator X Test

The chemical test that Price eventually came to use for the quantification of Activator X in foods was originally suggested as an indirect test for vitamin D by Lester Yoder of the Agricultural Experiment Station of Iowa State College in 1926. 8 The

basic principle of the test, called iodometric determination, was most commonly utilized in the United States for detecting the presence of organic peroxides.9 Since peroxides are capable of oxidizing ionic iodide to diatomic iodine, researchers can detect them by combining the test substance with hydriodic acid and a starch indicator. Hydriodic acid releases iodide ions into a solution. If peroxides are present, they convert these iodide ions to diatomic iodine, which then turns the starch blue or purple. This is somewhat similar to the amylase test that is used as a demonstration in many high school or college biology classes. In that test, however, preformed iodine is used; in the absence of amylase, the iodine turns the starch blue, while in the presence of amylase, the starch is broken down into sugar and the color change does not occur. At the time, the only way to test a food for vitamin D was to feed it to rats on a mineral-deficient diet, kill the rats, and analyze the mineral content of their bones. The richer the food was in vitamin D, the more it would stimulate absorption of the small amounts of calcium and phosphorus in the diet and the higher the bone mineral content would be. Yoder suggested, however, that there was a general correlation between the ability of an oil to peroxidize (become rancid) and its vitamin D content, and advocated testing an oil's ability to oxidize iodide as an indirect indicator of its level of vitamin D. Having no other convenient chemical test, Price adopted this as his test for vitamin D. The test was far from perfect. Yoder found peroxidation in substances with no vitamin D activity such as turpentine, a thirteen-year-old sample of cholesterol, and an aged sample of mineral oil. He further found that irradiating foods to the point at which their vitamin D activity was destroyed actually increased their score on the test. 8 As Price used this test on over 20,000 samples of dairy foods sent to him from around the world, he realized that the physiological effects that correlated with a food's ranking were different from those attributable to isolated vitamin D, and began using the term "Activator X" to describe the nutritional substance that the test was measuring. He observed that the

vitamin content of these butter samples varied fifty-fold, and that the samples richest in Activator X were the most potent for controlling dental caries. Clearly, Price's test was detecting something besides rancid oils. While researchers who published in English language journals traditionally used this test to detect peroxides, researchers publishing in Russian and German language journals had been using it to detect the synthetic compound benzoquinone all along.10,11 Benzoquinone belongs to a class of chemicals called quinones that includes biological molecules such as coenzyme Q10 and the K vitamins. These quinones possess oxygen-containing ring structures whose oxygens will steal electrons and hydrogen ions from hydriodic acid and thereby oxidize ionic iodide to diatomic iodine, causing the starch to become a bluish purple color (see Figure 1). In the 1970s, researchers from Britain and Denmark were debating whether or not healthy rat tissues contained lipid peroxides. The British researchers used the iodometric method to determine peroxide levels and argued that healthy rat tissues did contain peroxides, while the Danish researchers used a different method and argued that they did not. In a 1972 paper published in the British Journal of Nutrition, the Danish researchers demonstrated that the iodometric method was not showing the existence of peroxides in the rat tissues, but rather the existence of coenzyme Q 10 and probably other quinones.12 Price's test, therefore, was not specific to any one particular chemical compound. When used for fresh oils, however, it would be able to detect a number of nutrients that include coenzyme Q10 and the K vitamins. As shown in this article, it is the K vitamins that we should expect to vary in direct proportion to the amount of richly green grass in the diet of the animals, while the physiological effects Price identified with Activator X are specifically attributable to vitamin K 2.

Interactions between Vitamins A, D, and K2

SOFT TISSUE CALCIFICATION AND VITAMIN D TOXICITY (Hypothesis) Vitamin K Fulfills demand for Vitamin K Increased demand for Vitamin K Vitamin D Vitamin A Exerts Vitamin K sparing effect May protect by other unknown mechanisms

Relative deficiency of Vitamin K

Soft tissue calcification Bone loss, growth retardation Nervous system damage

BONES & TEETH Vitamin A Vitamin D Vitamin A Vitamin D

Matrix Gla Protein Vitamin K Activated Matrix Gla Protein

Osteocalcin

Activated Osteocalcin

Deposition of Minerals

Organization of Minerals

GROWTH Vitamin A Vitamin D Vitamin K

Synthesis of Growth Factors and Growth Factor Receptors

Absorption of Minerals

Prevention of the Calcification of Growth Cartilage

OPTIMAL GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT Strong Bones Straight Teeth Good Proportions

Wide Facial Development Long Straight Nose

Is Vitamin K2 an Essential Nutrient?

Vitamins K1 and K2 are both effective cofactors for the enzyme that activates vitamin K-dependent proteins,23but the liver preferentially uses vitamin K1 to activate clotting factors while most other tissues preferentially use vitamin K2 to activate the other vitamin K-dependent proteins.21 Although animals can convert vitamin K1 to vitamin K2,14 there are a number of lines of evidence strongly suggesting that humans require preformed K2 in the diet to obtain optimal health. Humans appear to have a finite ability to absorb vitamin K1 from plant foods. In the United States, where the mean intake of vitamin K1 is less than 150 micrograms per day, blood levels increase with increasing dietary intake until the latter reaches two hundred micrograms per day, after which they plateau. In the Netherlands, where the mean intake of vitamin K 1 is much higher (250 micrograms per day), plasma levels of vitamin K1 have no relationship to dietary intake at all.24 These results suggest that humans do not possess the ability to absorb much more than 200 micrograms of vitamin K 1 per day from vegetables. This interpretation is also supported by feeding experiments. Whereas the absorption of vitamin K2 from natto, a fermented soy food, is nearly complete, the absorption of vitamin K1 from servings of green vegetables ranging from two hundred to four hundred grams consumed without added fat is only between five and ten percent. The absorption of similarly sized servings of vegetables with added fat is still only between ten and fifteen percent.25-26 By contrast, smaller servings are absorbed more efficiently. For example, the absorption from a 150-gram serving of spinach is 17 percent and the absorption

from a 50-gram serving of spinach is 28 percent.27 These results show that our absorption of the vitamin declines as the amount we consume increases and strengthens the interpretation that we might only be able to absorb about 200 micrograms per day. When study subjects consume a highly absorbable pharmacological preparation of vitamin K1, a dose of 1000 micrograms per day is required to maximize the activation of proteins important to bone metabolism. 28 If we can only absorb one-fifth of this amount from vegetables, we cannot support our skeletal system with vitamin K1 regardless of how efficiently we may be able to convert it to vitamin K2. The ability to convert K1 to K2 varies widely between species and breeds of animals. The German researchers who first reported this conversion found that rats made it poorly compared to birds and that pigeons made it most efficiently. 14 Every tissue tested in male Wistar rats is capable of making the conversion,15 whereas the liver, kidneys and heart of male Lewis rats will preferentially accumulate preformed K2, but, unlike the pancreas and testes of these same animals, will not synthesize it from K1.16 The K2 content of human breast milk increases when mothers consume pharmacological preparations of K1, but the K2 content of their blood does not;17 since the conversion takes place in the target tissues rather than the blood, however, we do not know how efficiently other human tissues make this conversion. Vitamins K1 and K2 share a common ring-structured nucleus but possess different types of side chains. The first step in the conversion of K1 to K2 appears to be the cleavage of its side chain in either the liver or the gastrointestinal tract, yielding a toxic oxidizing agent called menadione; much of this metabolite is detoxified by the liver and excreted in the urine, while the remaining portion can be used to synthesize K2 in tissues.29 After this cleavage takes place, menadione must be transported to its target tissues where cellular enzymes can add a side chain to it, completing the transformation to K2. Because they are transported in different types of lipoproteins, vitamin K1 is primarily sent to the liver, whereas vitamin K2 is primarily sent to the other tissues;30we know very little, however, about the transport of menadione in the blood. We also know very little

about the rate at which our cells are capable of adding side chains to these molecules; presumably, if the supply of menadione exceeds the rate at which the cell can add these side chains, the menadione will exert toxic effects and cause oxidative damage within the cell. Preliminary evidence indicates that doses of 1000 micrograms per day of supplemental K1 may contribute to periodontal disease,31 suggesting that our bodies' resistance to absorbing this much K1 from vegetables may serve an important purpose. The clearest demonstration that humans require dietary preformed vitamin K2 for optimal health is that epidemiological and intervention studies both show its superiority over K1. Intake of vitamin K2, for example, is inversely associated with heart disease in humans while intake of vitamin K1 is not,20 and vitamin K2 is at least three times more effective than vitamin K1 at activating proteins related to skeletal metabolism.32 This nutritional superiority makes it clear why the primitive groups that Weston Price studied expended so much effort procuring foods rich in vitamin K 2 like the organs and fats of animals and the deeply colored orange butter from animals grazing on rich pastures.

The Vitamin K-Dependent Carboxylase

Most known functions of the K vitamins are mediated by the vitamin K-dependent carboxylase. The carboxylase is an enzyme bound to the membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum, a cellular organelle involved in the synthesis and modification of proteins. It uses vitamin K as a cofactor to add carboxyl groups to the side chains of the amino acid glutamate within certain vitamin K-dependent proteins (see Figure 3). This gives them a negative charge, allowing them to bind to calcium, which carries a positive charge.40 Vitamin K-dependent proteins must be carboxylated before they leave the cell or insert themselves into its membrane. They may contain anywhere from three to thirteen glutamate residues (amino acids are called "residues" when they are bound up

within proteins) that must be carboxylated; the carboxylase binds to them only once, however, and carboxylates each of these before it releases the protein. On the other hand, vitamin K can only be used for the carboxylation of a single glutamate residue and the carboxylase must release it after each carboxylation and allow it to be recycled and returned. A different enzyme, vitamin K oxidoreductase, recycles the vitamin; this enzyme is the target of the anticoagulant drug Warfarin and its relatives.40 Since Warfarin targets the recycling of vitamin K rather than the vitamin K-dependent coagulation proteins themselves, it not only acts as an anticoagulant, but also causes arterial and aortic valve calcification in both rats21 and humans41,42 and inhibits the mineralization of bone matrix.35 The distribution of the carboxylase among species and among tissues within an organism can help us understand its significance and that of its cofactor, vitamin K. With the exception of some microorganisms that have "stolen" the enzyme by incorporating the genetic material of other species,43 the carboxylase is present only in multicellular animals, underscoring its importance to intercellular communication. In the growing embryo, it is first expressed in skeletal and nervous tissue; vitamin K is therefore almost certainly essential to the development of the skeletal and nervous systems from their very beginnings.40 Vitamin K's activity as a cofactor for the carboxylase may only be the tip of the iceberg. In osteoblasts, the cells responsible for bone growth, the greatest concentration of vitamin K2 exists in the nucleus where the genetic material is; the second greatest concentration exists in the mitochondria, the so-called "power house" of the cell; finally, only the third greatest concentration exists in the endoplasmic reticulum where the carboxylase is found.44 We do not currently have enough information to understand the role of the K vitamins in the mitochondria or the nucleus. Osteoblasts possess a nuclear receptor for vitamin K2, suggesting it has a role as a nuclear hormone. Vitamin K2 has a higher affinity than vitamin K1 both for the nuclear receptor44 and for the mitochondrial membrane.45 There is also evidence that vitamin K2 plays a role as an

antioxidant within the cells that synthesize the myelin sheath, which forms the electrical insulation of nerves.46 Although it took until the 1970s to define the function of vitamin K as a cofactor for the carboxylase enzyme, the twenty-first century may well ring in a new revolution in our understanding of this amazing vitamin with the recognition that it is, to modify a phrase coined by Tufts University's Dr. Sarah Booth, "not just for the carboxylase anymore."

Vitamin K2 and the Brain: A Closer Look

The concentration of vitamin K2 is higher in myelinated regions than in non-myelinated regions of the brain (myelin is the sheath that forms the electrical insulation of neurons) and it is correlated with the presence of important lipids such as sphingomyelin and sulfatides. The small amount of K1, by contrast, is distributed more randomly,73 suggesting that it may not be as functionally important. These lipids are part of a broader class of compounds called sphingolipids that play essential roles in the brain as structural constituents of membranes, signaling factors, and promoters of cell survival. Vitamin K2 supports the activity of the enzyme that catalyzes the initial reaction for the production of all sphingolipids as well as the enzyme that catalyzes the final step in the synthesis of sulfatides. Warfarin or dietary vitamin K deficiency cause marked decreases in the activities of these enzymes and of the levels of sulfatides in the brains of rats and mice, while the administration of either vitamin K1 or K2 restores them.46 In addition to the production of sulfatides and other sphingolipids, vitamin K 2 plays at least two other important roles in the brain. The vitamin K-dependent protein gas6 promotes the survival of brain cells,74 and K vitamins, by an unknown mechanism, completely protect against the free radical-mediated death of the cells that synthesize myelin. Both an excess of glutamate and a deficiency of cystine can cause this type of cell death. Although K 1 and K2 protect against glutamate toxicity equally, K2 is fifteen times more effective than K1 at counteracting the harmful effects of cystine depletion. Oxidative

stress in the vulnerable infant brain can cause mental retardation, seizures, and cerebral palsy. Adequate intake of vitamin K2 during infancy may therefore protect against these diseases.75

Bacterial Production of Vitamin K2

"Vitamin K2" actually refers to a group of compounds called menaquinones. While vitamins K1 and K2 have different types of side chains, the side chains of the various menaquinones within the K2 group are all of the same type but are of varying lengths. Each of these forms is abbreviated MK-n, where "n" is a number that denotes the length of the side chain. Animal tissues exclusively synthesize MK-4, but many anaerobic bacteria synthesize other menaquinones, which they use for energy production much in the way that plants use vitamin K1.80 We can therefore obtain vitamin K2 by absorbing that which is produced by our intestinal flora or by eating fermented foods, in addition to eating animal foods which contain vitamin K2 synthesized from vitamin K1found in grass. Lactic acid bacteria mostly produce MK-7 through MK-10,18 while MK-10 and MK-11 accumulate in the human liver over time, presumably originating from bacterial production in the gut.81 It was once thought that intestinal bacteria were a major contributor to vitamin K status: the menaquinone content of stools is high, antibiotics have been associated with defects in blood clotting that resolve with vitamin K supplementation, and autopsies show that the great majority of vitamin K in the liver is present as "higher" menaquinones of bacterial origin. The balance of the evidence, however, challenges this view. Most of the menaquinones produced in the intestine are embedded within bacterial membranes and unavailable for absorption. Antibiotics produce vitamin K-responsive clotting defects not by reducing the intestinal production of K vitamins, but by inhibiting the enzyme within the human body that recycles them. Finally, the liver appears to accumulate higher menaquinones not because it is supplied with them abundantly but because it does not use them efficiently. Intestinal

production of menaquinones therefore likely makes some contribution to vitamin K status, but one that is very small. 80 Fermented foods such as sauerkraut, cheese, and natto, a soy dish popular in Eastern Japan, contain substantial amounts of vitamin K2. Natto, in fact, contains the highest amount of any food measured; nearly all of it is present as MK-7.26 MK-7 is highly effective: one recent study showed that it increased the percentage of activated osteocalcin in humans three times more powerfully than did vitamin K1.32 There are no studies available, however, comparing the efficacy of MK-7 to that of the MK-4 found in animal products. MK-9, and presumably MK-7, stays in the blood for a longer period of time than does MK-4, but this appears to be because tissues take up MK-4 much more rapidly.30 Whether the rapid uptake of MK-4 or the longer time spent in the blood by bacterial menaquinones have particular benefits or drawbacks is unclear. Future research will have to clarify whether the vitamin K2 synthesized by animal tissues and by bacteria are interchangeable, whether one is superior to the other, or whether each presents its own unique value to our health.

Supplementing with Vitamin K2

The best sources of vitamin K2 are fermented foods and grass-fed animal fats. These foods contain a wide array of nutrients that may act synergistically with vitamin K2 in ways we do not yet understand. Price 's vitamin-rich butter and butter oil concentrate provided not only vitamin K2 but also vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin D, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and other nutrients. Nevertheless, some people may wish to supplement with vitamin K 2 if they do not have access to high-quality food, wish to use a higher dose to treat a health condition, or want extra insurance. Two forms of vitamin K2 supplements are commercially available: menaquinone-4 (MK-4), also called menatetrenone, and menaquinone-7 (MK-7). MK-4 is a synthetic product that is believed to be chemically and physiologically identical to the vitamin K2 found in animal fats. This form has been used in most of the animal experiments and in the Japanese

osteoporosis studies. Although synthetic, it is effective, and there is no known toxicity. MK-7 is a natural extract of natto, a fermented soy food popular in Eastern Japan. MK-4 is much less expensive than MK-7, but no studies have yet compared the efficacy of these two forms. Menaquinone-4 Supplements: Thorne Research and Carlson Laboratories both offer cost-effective MK-4 supplements. Thorne's product is a liquid supplement. The MK-4 is dissolved in a medium-chain triglyceride base (the fats found in coconut oil) with mixed tocopherols (vitamin E). Carlson's product is less expensive than Thorne's, but comes in dry capsules primarily composed of cellulose and other fillers, and allows the user less control over the dose. Menaquinone-7 Supplements: Jarrow Formulas and Source Naturals both offer cost-effective MK-7 supplements. Source Naturals' product is less expensive, but Jarrow's contains fewer additives and certifies that the soy used to make the product is not genetically modified. Vitamin K2 supplements interfere with the activity of oral anticoagulants such as warfarin. Patients who are using warfarin should only use vitamin K2supplements with the knowledge of the prescribing physician. REFERENCES 1. Price, Weston A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. Self-published, 1945. 2. Lee, Royal. "Butter, Vitamin E and the X' Factor of Dr. Price." In The Dr. Royal Lee Historical Archive Collection from Selene River Press. Not Dated.http://www.seleneriverpress.com/media/pdf_docs/39_butter.pdf Accessed February 5, 2006. 3. Bland, Jeffrey. "Combating Cardiovascular Disease: The Search for Dr. Weston Price's Factor X." Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation. 1980; 5(1). 4. Baggio B. Fatty acids, calcium and bone metabolism. J Nephrol. 2002; 15: 601-604. 5. Price Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, personal communication.

6. Whitney NJ, Mortimore CG. Isolation of the antifungal substance, 6-methoxybenzoxazolinone, from field corn (Zeamays L.) in Canada. Nature. 1959; 184(Suppl 17): 1320. 7. Sweat FW, Berger PJ. Uterotropic 6-methoxybenzoxazolinone is an adrenergic agonist and a melatonin analog. Moll Cell endocrinol. 1988; 57(1-2): 131-8. 8. Yoder L. The relation between peroxidation and antirachitic vitamin. J Biol Chem. 1926; 70(1): 297-307. 9. Mair RD, Graupner J. Determination of Organic Peroxides by Iodine Liberation Procedures. Anal Chem. 1964; 36(1): 194203. 10. Willstatter R, Majima R. ber die quantitative Bestimmung der Chinone. Zurch-Ber. 1910; 43: 1171-1175. 11. Malyshev AI, Iofe II. Potentiometric titration of benzoquinone in maleic acid solutions. J Anal ChemUSSR (Engl Trans). 1958; 13: 427-429. 12. Glavind J. On the existence of lipid peroxides in rat tissue. Br J Nutr. 1972; 27: 19-26. 13. Chitnis PR. Photosystem I: Function and Physiology. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol. 2001; 52: 593-626. 14. Billeter M, Martius C. ber die Umwandlung von Phyllochinon (Vitamin K1) in Vitamin K2(20) im Tierkrper. Biochem Z. 1960; 333: 430-439. 15. Thijssen HHW, Drittij-Reijnders MJ. Vitamin K distribution in rat tissues: dietary phylloquinone is a source of tissue menquinone-4. Br J Nutr. 1994; 72: 415-425. 16. Ronden JE, Thijssen HHW, Vermeer C. Tissue distribution of K-vitamins under different nutritional regimens in the rat. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1998; 1379: 16-22. 17. Thijssen HHW, Drittij M-J, Vermeer C, Schoffelen E. Menaquinone-4 in breast milk is derived from dietary phylloquinone. Br J Nutr. 2002; 87: 219-226. 18. Morishita T, Natsuko T, Makino T, Kudo S. Production of Menaquinones by Lactic Acid Bacteria. J Dairy Sci. 1999; 82: 1897-1903.

19. Vermeer C, Hamulyak K. Vitamin K: lessons from the past. J Thromb Haemost. 2004; 2(12): 2115-7. 20. Geleijnse JM, Vermeer C, Grobbee DE, Schurgers LJ, Knapen MHJ, van der Meer IM, Hofman A, Witteman JCM. Dietary Intake of Menaquinone Is Associated with a Reduced Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: The Rotterdam Study. J Nutr. 2004; 134: 3100-3105. 21. Spronk HMH, Soute BAM, Schurgers LJ, Thijssen HHW, De Mey JGR, Vermeer C. Tissue-Specific Utilization of Menaquinone-4 Results in the Prevention of Arterial Calcification in Warfarin-Treated Rats.J Vasc Res. 2003; 40: 531537. 22. Elder SJ, Haytowitz DB, Howe J, Peterson JW, Booth SL. Vitamin K Contents of Meat, Dairy, and Fast Food in the U.S. Diet. J Agric Food Chem. 2006; 54: 463-467. 23. Buitenhuis HC, Soute BAM, Vermeer C. Comparison of the vitamins K1, K2 and K3 as cofactors for the hepatic vitamin Kdependent carboxylase. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1990; 1034: 170-175. 24. McKeown NM, Jacques PF, Gundberg CM, Peterson JW, Tucker KL, Kiel KP, Wilson PWF, Booth SL. Dietary and nondietary determinants of vitamin K biochemical measures in men and women. J Nutr. 2002; 132(6): 1329-1334. 25. Gijsbers BLMG, Jie K-SG, Vermeer C. Effect of food composition on vitamin K absorption in human volunteers. Br J Nutr. 1996; 76: 223-229. 26. Schurgers LJ, Vermeer C. Determination of Phylloquinone and Menaquinones in Food. Haemostasis. 2000; 30: 298-307. 27. Garber AK, Binkley NC, Krueger DC, Suttie JW. Comparison of Phylloquinone Bioavailability from Food Sources or a Supplement in Human Subjects. J Nutr. 1999; 129: 1201-1203. 28. Binkley NC, Grueger DC, Kawahara TN, Engelke JA, Chappell RJ, Suttie JW. A high phylloquinone intake is required to achieve maximal osteocalcin gamma-carboxylation. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002; 76: 1055-60. 29. Thijssen HHW, Vervoot LMT, Schurgers LJ, Shearer MJ. Menadione is a metabolite of oral vitamin K. Br J Nutr. 2006; 95: 266.

30. Schurgers LJ, Vermeer C. Differential lipoprotein transport pathways of K-vitamins in healthy subjects.Biochim Biophys Acta. 2002; 1570: 27-32. 31. Vermeer C, Shearer MJ, Zittermann A, Bolton-Smith C, Szulc P, Hodges S, Walter P, Rambeck W, Stocklin E, Weber P. Beyond deficiency: potential benefits of increased intakes of vitamin K for bone and vascular health. Eur J Nutr. 2004; 43: 325-335. 32. Schurgers LJ, Teunissen KJF, Hamulyak K, Knapen MHJ, Hogne V, Vermeer C. Vitamin K-containing dietary supplements: comparison of synthetic vitamin K1 and natto-derived menaquinone-7. Blood. 2006; [Epub ahead of print]. 33. Berkner KL, Runge W. The physiology of vitamin K nutriture and vitamin K-dependent protein function in atherosclerosis. J Thromb Haemost. 2004; 2(12): 2118-32. 34. Oliva A, Ragione FD, Fratta M, Marrone G, Palumbo R, Zappia V. Effect of retinoic acid on osteocalcin gene expression in human osteoblasts. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1993; 191(3): 908-14. 35. Koshihara Y, Hoshi K. Vitamin K2 enhances osteocalcin accumulation in the extracellular matrix of human osteoblasts in vitro. J Bone Miner Res. 1997; 12(3): 431-8. 36. Farzanheh-Far A, Weissberg PL, Proudfoot D, Shanahan CM. Transcriptional regulation of matrix gla protein. Z Kardiol. 2001; 90(Suppl. 3): 38-42. 37. Kirfel J, Kelter M, Cancela LM, Price PA, Schule R. Identification of a novel negative retinoic acid responsive element in the promoter of the human matrix Gla protein gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1997; 94(6): 2227-32. 38. Luo G, Ducy P, McKee MD, Pinero GJ, Loyer E, Behringer RR, Karsenty G. Spontaneous calcification of arteries and cartilage in mice lacking matrix GLA protein. Nature. 1997; 386: 78-81. 39. Masterjohn C. Vitamin D toxicity redefined: Vitamin K and the molecular mechanism. Med Hypotheses. 2006; [Epub ahead of print]. 40. Berkner KL. The Vitamin K-Dependent Carboxylase. Annu Rev Nutr. 2005; 25: 127-49.

41. Schori TR, Stungis GE. Long-term warfarin treatment may induce arterial calcification in humans: case report. Clin Invest Med. 2004; 27(2): 107-9. 42. Schurgers LJ, Aebert H, Vermeer C, Bultmann B, Janzen J. Oral anticoagulant treatment: friend or foe in cardiovascular disease? Blood. 2004; 104: 3231-3232. 43. Rishavy MA, Hallgren KW, Yakubenko AV, Zuerner RL, Runge KW, Berkner KL. The vitamin K-dependent carboxylase has been acquired by Leptospira pathogens and shows altered activity that suggests a role other than protein carboxylation. J Biol Chem. 2005; 280(41): 34870-7. 44. Hoshi K, Kohi N, Yoshihisa S, Koshihara Y. Nuclear Vitamin K2 Binding Protein in Human Osteoblasts. Homologue to Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase. Biochem Pharmacol. 1999; 58: 1631-1638. 45. Konishi T, Baba S. Intracellular and Intramitochondrial Distribution of Vitamin K: Biochemical and Electron Microscopic Radioautographic Study. Chem Pharm Bull. 1973; 21(1): 2479-2487. 46. Denisova NA, Booth SL. Vitamin K and Sphingolipid Metabolism: Evidence to Date. Nutr Rev. 2005; 63(4): 110-121. 47. Calandra JC, Fancher OE, Fosdick LS. The effect of synthetic vitamin K and related compounds on the rate of acid formation in saliva. J Dent Res. 1945; 24: 31-37. 48. Armstrong WD, Knutson JW. Effect of Quinones on Acid Formation in Saliva. Proc Soc Exper Biol & Med. 1942; 52: 307310. 49. Burrill DY, Calandra JC, Tilden EB, Fosdick LS. The effect of 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone on the incidence of dental caries. J Dent Res. 1945; 24: 273-282. 50. Medical Department Professional Service Schools. Bull YS. Army Med Dept. 1946; 5: 265. As cited in Makila E. Salivary Vitamins. Internat. Z. Vit. Forschung. 1968; 38: 260-269. 51. Gebauer H. Vitamin K als Cariesprophylaktikum. Dtsch Zahnarztl Z. 1955; 10(7): 555-6. 52. Glavind J, Granados H, Hansen A, Schilling K, Kruse I, Dam H. The Presence of Vitamins in the Saliva.Internat Z Vit

Forschung. 1948; 20: 234-237. 53. Zacharski LR, Rosenstein R. Reduction of Salivary Tissue Factor (Thromboplastin) Activity by Warfarin Therapy. Blood. 1979; 53(3): 366-374. 54. Huang GT-J, Shagramanova K, Chan SW. Formation of Odontoblast-Like Cells from Cultured Human Dental Pulp Cells on Dentin In Vitro. J Endod. 2006; 32: 1066-1073. 55. Trueb B, Taeschler S, Schild C, Lang NP. Expression of phosphoproteins and amelotin in teeth. Int J Mol Med. 2007; 19: 49-54. 56. Thaweboon S, Thaweboon B, Choonharuangdej S, Chunhabundit P, Suppakpatana P. Induction of type I collagen and osteocalcin in human dental pulp cells by retinoic acid. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2005; 36(4): 1066-9. 57. Shiba H, Uchida Y, Kamihagi K, Sakata M, Fujita T, Nakamura S, Takemoto T, Kato Y, Kurihara H. Transforming Growth Factor-1 and Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor Modulate Osteocalcin and Osteonectin/SPARC Syntheses in Vitamin-Dactivated pulp cells. J Dent Res. 2001; 80(7): 1653-1659. 58. Rhode CM, DeLuca HF. All-trans Retinoic Acid Antagonizes the Action of Calciferol and Its Active Metabolite, 1,25Dihydroxycholecalciferol, in Rats. J Nutr. 2005; 135: 1647-1652. 59. Boskey AL, Gadaleta S, Gundberg C, Doty SB, Ducy P, Karsenty G. Fourier transform infrared microspectropic analysis of bones of osteocalcin-deficient mice provides insight into the function of osteocalcin. Bone. 1998; 23(3): 187-96. 60. Luukinen H, Kakonen SM, Pettersson K, Koski K, Laippala P, Lovgren T, Kivela SL, Vaananen HK. Strong prediction of fractures among older adults by the ratio of carboxylated to total serum osteocalcin. J Bone Miner Res. 2000; 15(12): 2473-8. 61. Cockayne S, Adamson J, Lanham-New S, Shearer MJ, Gilbody S, Torgerson DJ. Vitamin K and the Prevention of Fractures. Arch Intern Med. 2006; 166: 1256-1261. 62. Konishi T, Baba S, Sone H. Whole-body Autoradiographic Study of Vitamin K Distribution in Rat. Chem Pharm Bull. 1973;

21(1): 220-224. 63. Schurgers LJ, Teunissen KJF, Knapen MHJ, Kwaijtall M, van Diest R, Appels A, Reutelingsperger CP, Cleutjens JPM, Vermeer C. Novel Conformation-Specific Antibodies Against Matrix gamma-Carboxyglutamic Acid (Gla) Protein. Undercarboxylated Matrix Gla Protein as Marker for Vascular Calcification. Arterioscler Thromb Basc Biol. 2005; 25: 1629-1633. 64. Thijssen HHW, Drittij-Reijnders MJ, Fischer MAJG. Phylloquinone and Menaquinone-4 Distribution in Rats: Synthesis rather than Uptake Determines Menaquinone-4 Organ Concentrations. J Nutr. 1996; 126: 537-543. 65. Schurgers LJ, Spronk HMH, Soute BAM, Schiffers PM, DeMey JGR, Vermeer C. Regression of warfarin-induced medial elastocalcinosis by high intake of vitamin K in rats. Blood. 2006; [Epub ahead of print]. 66. Erkkila AT, Booth SL, Hu FB, Jacques PF, Manson JE, Rexrode KM, Stampfer MJ, Lichtenstein AH. Phylloquinone intake as a marker for coronary heart disease risk but not stroke in women. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2005; 59: 196-204. 67. Erkkila AT, Booth SL, Hu FB, Jacques PF, Lichenstein AH. Phylloquinone intake and risk of cardiovascular diseases in men. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2007; 17: 58-62. 68. Braam L, McKeown N, Jacques P, Lichtenstein A, Vermeer C, Wilson P, Booth S. Dietary Phylloquinone Intake as a Potential Marker for a Heart-Healthy Dietary Pattern in the Framingham Offspring Cohort. J Am Diet Assoc. 2004; 104: 1410-1414. 69. Thijssen HHW, Drittij-Reijnders MJ. Vitamin K status in human tissues: tissue-specific accumulation of phylloquinone and menaquionone-4. Br J Nutr. 1996; 75: 121-127. 70. Han X, M Holtzman D, McKeel DW Jr, Kelley J, Morris JC. Substantial sulfatide deficiency and ceramide elevation in very early Alzheimer's disease: potential role in disease pathogenesis. J Neurochem. 2002; 82(4): 809-18. 71. Cocchetto DM, Miller DB, Miller LL, Bjornsson TD. Behavioral perturbations in the vitamin K-deficient rat.Physiol Behav. 1985; 34(5): 727-34.

72. Bosio A, Binzeck E, Stoffel W. Functional breakdown of the lipid bilayer of the myelin membrane in central and peripheral nervous system by disrupted galactocerebroside synthesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1996; 93: 13280-13285. 73. Carrie I, Portoukalian J, Vicaretti R, Rochford J, Potvin S, Ferland G. Menaquinone-4 Concentration is Correlated with Sphingolipid Concentrations in Rat Brain. J Nutr. 2004; 134: 167-172. 74. Shankar SL, O'Guin K, Cammer M, McMorris FA, Stitt TN, Basch RS, Varnum B, Shafit-Zagardo B. The Growth ArrestSpecific Gene Product Gas6 Promotes the Survival of Human Oligodendrocytes via a Posphatidylinositol 3-KinaseDependent Pathway. J Neurosci. 2003; 23(10): 4208-4218. 75. Li J, Lin JC, Wang H, Peterson JW, Furie BC, Furie B, Booth SL, Volpe JJ, Rosenberg PA. Novel Role of Vitamin K in Preventing Oxidative Injury to Developing Oligodendrocytes and Neurons. J Neurosci.2003; 32(13): 5816-5826. 76. Sakamoto N, Nishiike T, Iguchi H, Sakamoto K. Possible effects of one week vitamin K (menaquinone-4) tablets intake on glucose tolerance in healthy young male volunteers with different descarboxy prothrombin levels. Clin Nutr. 2000; 19(4): 259-263. 77. Vermeer C, Soute BAM, Ulrich MMW, van de Loo PGF. Vitamin K and the Urogenital Tract. Haemostasis. 1986; 16: 246257. 78. Howe AM, Lipson AH, de Silva M, Ouvrier R, Webster WS. Severe Cervical Dysplasia and Nasal Cartilage Calcification Following Prenatal Warfarin Exposure. Am J Med Genet.1997; 71: 391-396. 79. Tokita H, Tsuchida A, Miyazawa K, Ohyashiki K, Katayanaqi S, Sudo H, Enomoto M, Takaqi Y, Aoki T. Vitamin K 2-induced antitumor effects via cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis in gastric cancer cell lines. Int J Mol Med. 2006; 17(2):2355-43. 80. Unden G, Bongaerts J. Alternative respiratory pathways of Escherichia coli: energetics and transcriptional regulation in response to electron acceptors. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1997; 1320: 217-234. 81. Suttie JW. The importance of menaquinones in human nutrition. Annu Rev Nutr. 1995; 15: 399-417.
Follow Up Questions and Answers

Question: How much K2 is recommended for adults and for children? Answer: Unfortunately we do not have any solid numbers on the optimal or minimum intake of K vitamins, neither from modern scientific analysis nor from what people consumed in optimal traditional diets. However, we do know that virtually all adults have some degree of deficiency, whether this is very small or very substantial, and a recent study suggests that children are much more likely to be deficient, so children may actually need more because they are growing. The best thing to do would be to eat from the foods richest in vitamin K2: natto, cheese or goose liver, at least once a week and to eat from the other relatively rich foodsgrass-fed butter, animal fats and fermented foodson a daily basis. If you choose to take any of the supplements listed in the article in addition to this, there is currently no reason to believe that it is necessary to take more than the minimum dose (one drop of Thorne or one capsule of Jarrow). In the years ahead, we should see much more definitive information coming out on this, and hopefully we will also see some research reopen the questions that Price had raised about the agricultural practices that lead to the highest levels of Activator X in foods. Question: What is the appropriate dose of vitamin K2 for maintenance and therapeutic purposes? Answer: We do not have adequate information on dosage requirements for vitamin K2. I would think that for maintenance one should shoot for 100 mcg minimum, possibly more for children, but we will have to wait for further research to quantify this. There are unpublished anecdotes according to which some people have found up to 5-10 milligrams useful for treating specific conditions, such as autism or spider veins. At present, this is a matter that the individual must settle through experimentation. Question: Do we know the levels of vitamin K2 in the primitive societies studied by Dr. Price? Answer: We have no quantitative information on K2 as K2 or as Activator X in primitive societies or in Price's practice because Price did not have a means of quantifying the levels by massfor example, how many micrograms were contained

in a given food sample. Price could only compare different foods based on the intensity of the blue color yielded by the test, which he then compared to standards made from numerous different dilutions of a blue dye. So Price could say that one food was a richer or poorer source than another, but he could not determine the precise amount contained within the food. Question: Is the K2 found in animal products or fermented foods affected by cooking? Answer: I have yet to see any hard data on cooking losses, but everything I have read indicates that vitamin K is very heatstable (though it can apparently incur losses from exposure to light). Question: Is the Wulzen anti-arthritis factor in butter a separate compound from K2? Answer: I do not know whether the Wulzen factor is a separate compound; however, others have suggested that they are separate because Wulzen found this factor to be destroyed by pasteurization, whereas Price and maybe others found activator X to be heat-stable. Question: Fermented foods are said to be good sources of K2 but in your article you say that most of the vitamin K2 produced by bacteria in the gut is now believed to be embedded in the bacterial membranes and unavailable for absorption. One might think therefore that the vitamin K2 produced in fermented foods is similarly unavailable. Are the bacteria in fermented foods different? Does stomach digestion free up the K2? Answer: Whether it is because some bacteria secrete the K2 or because the acidic digestion of the stomach ruptures the membranes I do not know, but the absorption of K2 from natto is near complete. Question: Does yogurt contain vitamin K2? Answer: Yogurt has roughly the same amount of K2 as milk, with just a tiny bit produced. This is probably because commercial yogurt is only fermented for four hours, whereas hard cheese is fermented for at least two months. Question: Can you calculate how much K2 is in commercial versus grass-fed butter?

Answer: I do not think this can be calculated. The primary confounder is that commercial butter comes from cows in confinement operations fed massive amounts of menadione, a portion of which can be converted into K 2. We have no idea at what rate this is turned into K2 and how it compares to K1 from grass as a precursor to K2, so we have no baseline from which to calculate. Question: I'd like to use natto as a source of K2, but I have an allergy to yeast. Do you know which microorganisms ferment soy to create natto, and whether yeast is used in other parts of the process? Answer: Natto is fermented with Bacillus subtilus, subspecies natto. Yeast is not essential to the process as far as I know, but I do not know whether the cultures tend to pick up yeast or whether for some reason some products may also deliberately use yeast. You may want to inquire with a specific manufacturer or from whomever you buy the culture if you choose to make your own. Editor's note: Natto is definitely an acquired taste, one usually not acceptable to westerners.

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Spring 2007. About the Author [authorbio:masterjohn-chris]

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Why Goose Liver?

written by Jeremy Burchett, May 11 2013

Why is goose liver so high in K2? And is beef liver not high enough in K2 to make the list? I ask because goose liver is hard to find (for most people) but grass fed beef liver and pastured chicken liver is not. I guess I'll have to find goose liver. Oh and People!... Eat your Natto! for the benefit of your body!... yes it tastes like socks but you get used to it and soon will crave it. Its my first day on it and I instantly feel an effect, just like my first day on Cod liver oil and high vit. butter oil. Let's find those sacred foods and eat them!

Some more confusion about K2...
written by Theonat, Mar 17 2013 +0

I am currently reading the 2012 book "Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox." In it the author references this very article a couple times. However, she claims certain things about Vitamin K2 which seems wrong or contradictive. 1) She claims neither K1 nor K2 can be stored. Is that true? I thought they were stored in the liver, pancreas, brain, and other places? 2) She says that the enzyme used to recycle K1 does NOT recycle K2, and thus warfarin would have no effect on K2. 3) She claims that MK-7 is much more effective than MK-4 because 120mcg of MK-7 reaps the same amount of benefits as 4,500mcg of MK-4. 4) Her graphic illustration of the MK-4 and MK-7 molecules seems... odd. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think it's a mistake. The two-ring structure is angled differently on MK-7, and she writes H3C where CH3 should be placed. It's hard to explain, but her illustration is on page 66. Can someone else verify this? Is her graphic wrong? I cannot find this graphic anywhere else on the internet. The confusion does not stop at Vitamin K, either. Earlier in the book she admits that the lipid hypothesis (saturated fat / cholesterol) is outdated and incorrect. However, later in the book she claims pastured animal foods are healthier because they contain LESS saturated fat and cholesterol. Huh? I guess the propaganda is so strong that nutritionists don't even realize when they perpetuate it. She does this "flip flop" again in later chapters.

Are these true mistakes on her part, or has new research shown otherwise? She does cite references and doesn't pull stuff out of nowhere. She seems well verse and appears to be a good researcher. After all, she references Chris Masterjohn a couple of times. So what I'm saying is that the more I read about nutrition (vitamin K2 in particular), the more confused I become. Can any of you, including Chris, help clear this up for me? It would mean a lot to me.

K1 conversion into K2 in fermented foods
written by David J, Feb 17 2013 +4

Is all the vitamin K1 content in cabbage converted into vitamin K2 in sauerkraut (and the same for all other fermented foods) or is the vitamin K1 content still present in sauerkraut?

K2 and warfarin
+0

written by Kris Johnson, Dec 14 2012

It is my understanding that it is easier to adjust warfarin dose when you are consuming a steady amount of vitamin K1 from greens, etc. Vitamin K2 has a weak effect on blood clotting. Unfortunately your doctor may not know anything about the benefits of K2, so it might help to bring in this article. You need those grass-fed animal products to get your K2.

To clot or not to clot
+0

written by Bella, Nov 17 2012

I am taking the Blue Ice Royal butter oil with a view to keeping calcium out of my arteries, but recently had 2 long episodes of rapid atrial fibrillation, and there is warferin in my future, I can see it in my doctor's eyes! I am looking at nattokinase instead, but I want to understand about the differences between K1 and K2 as you describe them here.

K1 is involved in clotting ( I should note) and K2 is more to do with calcium. We make K2 from K1. You don't say the dynamic goes the other way, but you do say that people on warferin should not take K2, at least make doctor aware so he can put your warferin dose up, I expect! So on the one hand K2 doesn't seem to be a clotting no no, but on the other it does, Which is it please? If both, what is the mechanism? Can I keep taking the k2 even though I am now officially at risk of stroke because my heart might produce clots. Thank you!

...
+5

written by Polly Kraemer, May 06 2012

Have you heard of Nature's Pasture high vitamin butter oil/cod liver oil blend? That is what I take. Is this an appropriate supplement for the k1 and k2? Xfactor. How many a day? I have many many health problems that no traditional doctor seems to know what to do. Please help

MD
+7

written by Stanley Lang, Apr 09 2012

Do you know if organic apple cider vinegar has K2 and if so how much?

X Factor
+7

written by Claus, Jan 30 2012

It will be interesting to follow the X Factor this year :-)


K1 and Diabetes, Strontium & D3
+0

written by Ted Birnbaum, Dec 02 2011

I normally take 100 micrograms of K1 every other day. I decided to stop it completely to see its effect. After 4.5 days of no K1, my sleep was interrupted about every 2 hours by the need to urinate. And each time I awoke my mouth was unusually dry (parched) and thirsty. I also had a bad (as in unable to put socks on or tie shoes without bad pain) ache in my left hip which REFUSED TO HEAL. I took many supplements which usually speed healing for me, with no effect. During the daytime, I also noticed an increased need to urinate & drink water. My weight has also been on the decline, going from 157 to 147 over the last 6 months...although there were probably additional reasons for that. Prior to this experience there was another brief interval when I had increased frequency of nightly urination....when I was taking antibiotics for my teeth. That must have lowered my good intestinal bacteria count...which produces K1. After 2 nights of high frequency urination, I took 200 micrograms of K1 and also had a serving of good yogurt. That nite I slept 5.5 hours before awakening and needing to urinate (about normal for me)...& slept well afterwards. My mouth was also not parched like the previous nites. During the daytime I also noticed significant healing of my left hip and less need to urinate or drink water. I again took 100 micrograms of K1 and didn't have to urinate excessively. K1 is much cheaper than K2 & that's why I am using it, & I was hoping my body would convert some of the K1 to K2. I am male, 63 years old with an ideal weight of 148? and usually do not suffer from an excessive need to urinate. After reading your very revealing article, I may buy some K2. I have also used strontium citrate & believe it helped my teeth...but found strontium in EXCESS could hurt my sleep, heart beat & even the teeth in extreme excess. All those areas require a good mineral balance in the blood and could be hurt by excessive movement of calcium from the blood to the teeth & bones. I wonder if K2 will exhibit the same effect. I also observed that vitamin D3 works in opposition to strontium. I've had trouble with D3..hurting my sleep..wonder if that will be cured by K2 in light of this article

...
+5

written by Donna, Jun 24 2011

Wow!!!! this was an awesome article and so informative. I have Osteoporosis and am taking a combo of D3&K2 along with Strontium Citrate and other bone supplements. Have you heard of Strontium Citrate for bones?


...

+2

written by Brandon Berg, May 18 2011

Other way around, Marcus. Natto is a Japanese compound word whose components are natsu (storage) andto (bean). Soybeans kept in storage for a long time, i.e., fermented. The subspecies of bacteria is named for the food in which it is found. And I agree with Chris that it's definitely an acquired taste. I tried it once at a sushi restaurant several years ago and thought it was pretty terrible. In light of this information, I may have to head down to Chinatown and give it another try.

VitaminK2 or VitaminK4?
+1

written by Lisa, Mar 27 2011

I have read your article and I would like to take supplements of vitamin K2 (that are mentioned in your article) as I take calcium supplements, it seems that the one derived from Natto one is the best However, as Dr Mercola states, all soy products, especially the fermented ones, are highly goitrogenic, and I have some hypothyroid conditions So my question is, would that be the same if I use the Vitamin K2 ( MK4) instead than the MK7? As it seems that the MK4 is not derived from soy, do you know if it is equally efficient? Thanks Lisa

...
+8

written by Tony Rutz, Jan 05 2011

Do you know if K2 supplementation been shown to reverse aortic stenosis?


Warfarin and Vitamin K2 Chris, Wow! What an information rich article this is! I am still trying to digest the details. Does eating foods rich in K2 (natto especially) affect anti-coagulation? I am especially curious on how K2 differs from K1 in this respect.
+4

written by PhilM, Dec 16 2010

Natto question
+0

written by Marcus, Dec 04 2010

Judging from the last answer to the last question, am I to understand that Natto is named after the bacteria it is produced by? Marcus

High Vitamin Butter Oil
+0

written by jimmyv, Aug 27 2010

If High Vitamin Butter Oil is known to contain the richest source of Activator X, does this mean that it is rich in K2? In the article above, the 'comparison' reference makes it seem like the butter oil is a great substitution for K2, since it provides very similar benefits. Am I way off on this? Is K2 and Green Pastures Butter Oil one in the same? Also, if it is still undetermined how much K2 is the right amount, how do we know that taking the recommended doses of CLO combined

with HVBO contains a safe and sufficient amount of D and A and K2 to provide all the benefits referenced above? Thanks!

Will K2 interfere with Aspirin
+17

written by rashmie, May 15 2010

Hello, This is a very informative article. It can be revolutionary to know that Vitamin K1 and K2 perform specific functions. That, K1 primarily fulfills the blood clotting functionality while K2 activates the protein that allows calcium to stay where it should in the bones, rather than on soft tissues. If K2 has this specific function of directing calcium to the bones, then can I safely supplement my mother with K2 who's recently undergone a Bental surgery (replacement of the aorta and valves) and she was on Warfarin initially for 2 months and now is removed from that but is put on Aspirin? My mother has severe bone problems, has Osteopenia and is really deficient in D3. Your input will be much appreciated. Mym mom is really suffering with all sorts of pain all over her body. Thanks much.

Vit. K2
+7

written by Colleen Mulvihill, May 10 2010

I have been having a hard time digesting food, problems thinking,nerve problems, heart palpatations, breathing problems. I know I am low in Vit K2 per homopathic. Could this be the cause. I was on Warafarin for about 1 year because I had a blood clot in my leg. Since I have taken Warfarin, I have had so may symptoms...extreme tiredness, confusion and so much more. What would you recommend? I never feel well. Is there a standard blood test for Vit. K2 Thank you,

Colleen

...
+2

written by Tim Zuffi, Apr 13 2010

I have read the scientific papers showing the connections of vitamin K2 insufficiency/deficiency to osteoporosis, calcium deposits in the arteries and cartilage etc. I found this paper (http://bloodjournal.hematology...type=HWCIT) particularly impressive because it shows how increasing the consumption of vitamin K2 seems to reverse arterial calcification. What I would like to know is if anyone is doing a similar study with either people with osteophytes/bone spurs or with osteoarthritis, given that these diseases seem to be other manifestations of shuttling calcium to all the wrong places.

i have osteoporosis and i want to change that
written by joellenoelle, Feb 25 2010 +4

informative article. I can't belive my dr wants me to take dangerous osteoporosis drugs when all i really may need is some healthy eating habits and some vitK2 a must read for usre

Kidney Stones and K2
+0

written by Don, Feb 16 2010

I have suffered from kidney stones that I am unable to pass without surgical intervention. To think that it might be a lack of vitamin K2 all along is encouraging. There are so many theories about the cause of Kidney Stones including too much calcium, oxalate,cadmium, fluoride... it has my head spinning. I always found the idea of avoiding the list of 200 oxalate containing foods recommended by my local hospital's website could do more harm than good as many are nutritious. Anyone suffering from a Calcium/oxalate kidney stone please try drinking the undiluted juice of several lemons and/or Apple

Cider Vinegar mixed with a small amount of water. I had 2 Kidney stones that disappeared minutes after I drank these substances. Please don't believe me, try it yourself!

Great Article!
+6

written by Dr. Alicia Armitstead, Feb 14 2010

I found this article full of great info that was well referenced. A must read for anyone interested in nutrition!

+4

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2013 The Weston A. Price Foundation for Wise Traditions in Food, Farming, and the Healing Arts.

The Weston A. Price Foundation

Guidelines & Membership Booklet

Life in all its splendor is Mother Nature obeyed. --Weston A. Price, DDS The Weston A. Price Foundation only accepts contributions from members and/or private donations, and does not accept funds from the meat or dairy industries. Contents

About Dr. Weston A. Price Characteristics of Traditional Diets Dietary Guidelines

Dietary Dangers Confused about Fats? The Many Roles of Saturated Fats The Fat-Soluble Activators What's Wrong With "Politically Correct" Nutrition? Traditional vs. Modern Diets Myths and Truths About Nutrition Myths and Truths About Soy Soy Infant Formula: Birth Control Pills for Babies Coronary Heart Disease: What the Expert Say Principles of Holistic Dentistry The Weston A. Price Foundation Become a Member of the Weston A. Price Foundation
About Dr. Weston A. Price

In the early 1930s, a Cleveland dentist named Weston A. Price (1870-1948) began a series of unique investigations. For over ten years, he traveled to isolated parts of the globe to study the health of populations untouched by western civilization. His goal was to discover the factors responsible for good dental health. His studies revealed that dental caries and deformed dental arches resulting in crowded, crooked teeth are the result of nutritional deficiencies, not inherited genetic defects. The groups Price studied included sequestered villages in Switzerland, Gaelic communities in the Outer Hebrides, indigenous peoples of North and South America, Melanesian and Polynesian South Sea Islanders, African tribes, Australian Aborigines and New Zealand Maori. Wherever he went, Dr. Price found that beautiful straight teeth, freedom from decay, good physiques, resistance to disease and fine characters were typical of native groups on their traditional diets, rich in essential nutrients. When Dr. Price analyzed the foods used by isolated peoples he found that, in comparison to the American diet of his
Photo Copyright Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, All Rights the fat-soluble vitamins, from animal foods such as butter, fish eggs, shellfish, organ meats, eggs and animal fats--the Reserved,www.ppnf.org

day, they provided at least four times the water-soluble vitamins, calcium and other minerals, and at least TEN times

very cholesterol-rich foods now shunned by the American public as unhealthful. These healthy traditional peoples knew instinctively what scientists of Dr. Price's day had recently discovered--that these fat-soluble vitamins, vitamins A and D, were vital to health because they acted as catalysts to mineral absorption and protein utilization. Without them, we cannot absorb minerals, no matter how abundant they may be in our food. Dr. Price discovered an additional fat-soluble nutrient, which he labeled Activator X, that is present in fish livers and shellfish, and organ meats and butter from cows eating rapidly growing green grass in the Spring and Fall. All primitive groups had a source of Activator X, now thought to be vitamin K2, in their diets.

The isolated groups Dr. Price investigated understood the importance of preconceptual nutrition for both parents. Many tribes required a period of special feeding before conception, in which nutrient-dense animal foods were given to young men and women. These same foods were considered important for pregnant and lactating women and growing children. Price discovered them to be particularly rich in minerals and in the fat-soluble activators found only in animal fats. The isolated people Price photographed--with their fine bodies, ease of reproduction, emotional stability and freedom from degenerative ills--stand forth in sharp contrast to civilized moderns subsisting on the "displacing foods of modern commerce," including sugar, white flour, pasteurized milk, lowfat foods, vegetable oils and convenience items filled with extenders and additives. The discoveries and conclusions of Dr. Price are presented in his classic volume, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. The book contains striking photographs of handsome, healthy primitive people and illustrates in an unforgettable way the physical degeneration that occurs when human groups abandon nourishing traditional diets in favor of modern convenience foods.

Photo Copyright Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, All Rights Reserved,www.ppnf.org The photographs of Dr. Weston Price illustrate the difference in facial structure between those on native diets and those whose parents had adopted the "civilized" diets of devitalized processed foods. The "primitive" Seminole (left) has a wide,

handsome face with plenty of room for the dental arches. The "modernized" Seminole girl (right), born to parents who had abandoned their traditional diets, has a narrowed face, crowded teeth and a reduced immunity to disease. Characteristics of Traditional Diets

1. The diets of healthy, nonindustrialized peoples contain no refined or denatured foods or ingredients, such as refined sugar or high fructose corn syrup; white flour; canned foods; pasteurized, homogenized, skim or lowfat milk; refined or hydrogenated vegetable oils; protein powders; artificial vitamins; or toxic additives and colorings. 2. All traditional cultures consume some sort of animal food, such as fish and shellfish; land and water fowl; land and sea mammals; eggs; milk and milk products; reptiles; and insects. The whole animal is consumed--muscle meat, organs, bones and fat, with the organ meats and fats preferred. 3. The diets of healthy, nonindustrialized peoples contain at least four times the minerals and water-soluble vitamins, and TEN times the fat-soluble vitamins found in animal fats (vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin K2--Price's "Activator X") as the average American diet. 4. All traditional cultures cooked some of their food but all consumed a portion of their animal foods raw. 5. Primitive and traditional diets have a high content of food enzymes and beneficial bacteria from lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages, dairy products, meats and condiments. 6. Seeds, grains and nuts are soaked, sprouted, fermented or naturally leavened to neutralize naturally occurring anti-nutrients such as enzyme inhibitors, tannins and phytic acid. 7. Total fat content of traditional diets varies from 30 percent to 80 percent of calories but only about 4 percent of calories come from polyunsaturated oils naturally occurring in grains, legumes, nuts, fish, animal fats and vegetables. The balance of fat calories is in the form of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. 8. Traditional diets contain nearly equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids. 9. All traditional diets contain some salt. 10. All traditional cultures make use of animal bones, usually in the form of gelatin-rich bone broths.

11. Traditional cultures make provisions for the health of future generations by providing special nutrient-rich animal foods for parents-to-be, pregnant women and growing children; by proper spacing of children; and by teaching the principles of right diet to the young.
Dietary Guidelines

1. Eat whole, unprocessed foods. 2. Eat beef, lamb, game, organ meats, poultry and eggs from pasture-fed animals. 3. Eat wild fish (not farm-raised) and shellfish from unpolluted waters. 4. Eat full-fat milk products from pasture-fed cows, preferably raw and/or fermented, such as raw milk, whole yogurt, kefir, cultured butter, whole raw cheeses and fresh and sour cream. (Imported cheeses that say "milk" or "fresh milk" on the label are raw.) 5. Use animal fats, especially butter, liberally. 6. Use traditional vegetable oils only--extra virgin olive oil, expeller-expressed sesame oil, small amounts of expeller-expressed flax oil, and the tropical oils--coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil. 7. Take cod liver oil regularly to provide at least 10,000 IU vitamin A and 1,000 IU vitamin D per day. 8. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables--preferably organic--in salads and soups, or lightly steamed with butter. 9. Use whole grains, legumes and nuts that have been prepared by soaking, sprouting or sour leavening to neutralize phytic acid, enzyme inhibitors and other anti-nutrients. 10. Include enzyme-enhanced lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages and condiments in your diet on a regular basis. 11. Prepare homemade meat stocks from the bones of chicken, beef, lamb and fish and use liberally in soups, stews, gravies and sauces. 12. Use filtered water for cooking and drinking. 13. Use unrefined salt and a variety of herbs and spices for food interest and appetite stimulation. 14. Make your own salad dressing using raw vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and a small amount of expeller-expressed flax oil.

15. Use natural sweeteners in moderation, such as raw honey, maple syrup, maple sugar, date sugar, dehydrated cane sugar juice (sold as Rapadura) and stevia powder. 16. Use only unpasteurized wine or beer in strict moderation with meals. 17. Cook only in stainless steel, cast iron, glass or good quality enamel. 18. Use only natural, food-based supplements. 19. Get plenty of sleep, exercise and natural light. 20. Think positive thoughts and practice forgiveness.
Dietary Dangers

1. Do not eat commercially processed foods such as cookies, cakes, crackers, TV dinners, soft drinks, packaged sauce mixes, etc. Read labels! 2. Avoid all refined sweeteners such as sugar, dextrose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup and fruit juices. 3. Avoid white flour, white flour products and white rice. 4. Avoid all hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats and oils. 5. Avoid all refined liquid vegetable oils made from soy, corn, safflower, canola or cottonseed. 6. Do not use polyunsaturated oils for cooking, sauting or baking. 7. Avoid foods fried in polyunsaturated oils or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. 8. Do not practice veganism. Animal products provide vital nutrients not found in plant foods. 9. Avoid products containing protein powders as they usually contain carcinogens formed during processing; and consumption of protein without the cofactors occurring in nature can lead to deficiencies, especially of vitamin A. 10. Avoid processed, pasteurized milk; do not consume ultrapasteurized milk products, lowfat milk, skim milk, powdered milk or imitation milk products. 11. Avoid factory-farmed eggs, meats and fish.

12. Avoid highly processed luncheon meats and sausage. 13. Avoid rancid and improperly prepared seeds, nuts and grains found in granolas, quick rise breads and extruded breakfast cereals, as they block mineral absorption and cause intestinal distress. 14. Avoid canned, sprayed, waxed and irradiated fruits and vegetables. Avoid genetically modified foods (found in most soy, canola and corn products). 15. Avoid artificial food additives, especially MSG, hydrolyzed vegetable protein and aspartame, which are neurotoxins. Most soups, sauce and broth mixes and most commercial condiments contain MSG, even if not indicated on the label. 16. Individuals sensitive to caffeine and related substances should avoid coffee, tea and chocolate. 17. Avoid aluminum-containing foods such as commercial salt, baking powder and antacids. Do not use aluminum cookware or deodorants containing aluminum. 18. Do not drink fluoridated water. 19. Avoid synthetic vitamins and foods containing them. 20. Avoid distilled liquors. 21. Do not use a microwave oven.
Confused About Fats?

The following nutrient-rich traditional fats have nourished healthy population groups for thousands of years: For Cooking

Butter Tallow and suet from beef and lamb Lard from pigs Chicken, goose and duck fat

Coconut, palm and palm kernel oils For Salads

Extra virgin olive oil (also OK for cooking) Expeller-expressed sesame and peanut oils Expeller-expressed flax oil (in small amounts) For Fat-Soluble Vitamins

Fish liver oils such as cod liver oil (preferable to fish oils, which do not provide fat-soluble vitamins, can cause an overdose of unsaturated fatty acids and usually come from farmed fish.) The following newfangled fats can cause cancer, heart disease, immune system dysfunction, sterility, learning disabilities, growth problems and osteoporosis:

All hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils Industrially processed liquid oils such as soy, corn, safflower, cottonseed and canola Fats and oils (especially vegetable oils) heated to very high temperatures in processing and frying.
The Many Roles of Saturated Fat

Saturated fats, such as butter, meat fats, coconut oil and palm oil, tend to be solid at room temperature. According to conventional nutritional dogma, these traditional fats are to blame for most of our modern diseases--heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, malfunction of cell membranes and even nervous disorders like multiple sclerosis. However, many scientific studies indicate that it is processed liquid vegetable oil--which is laden with free radicals formed during processing--and artificially hardened vegetable oil--called trans fat--that are the culprits in these modern conditions, not natural saturated fats.

Humans need saturated fats because we are warm blooded. Our bodies do not function at room temperature, but at a tropical temperature. Saturated fats provide the appropriate stiffness and structure to our cell membranes and tissues. When we consume a lot of liquid unsaturated oils, our cell membranes do not have structural integrity to function properly, they become too "floppy," and when we consume a lot of trans fat, which is not as soft as saturated fats at body temperature, our cell membranes become too "stiff." Contrary to the accepted view, which is not scientifically based, saturated fats do not clog arteries or cause heart disease. In fact, the preferred food for the heart is saturated fat; and saturated fats lower a substance called Lp(a), which is a very accurate marker for proneness to heart disease. Saturated fats play many important roles in the body chemistry. They strengthen the immune system and are involved in inter-cellular communication, which means they protect us against cancer. They help the receptors on our cell membranes work properly, including receptors for insulin, thereby protecting us against diabetes. The lungs cannot function without saturated fats, which is why children given butter and full-fat milk have much less asthma than children given reduced-fat milk and margarine. Saturated fats are also involved in kidney function and hormone production. Saturated fats are required for the nervous system to function properly, and over half the fat in the brain is saturated. Saturated fats also help suppress inflammation. Finally, saturated animal fats carry the vital fat-soluble vitamins A, D and K2, which we need in large amounts to be healthy. Human beings have been consuming saturated fats from animals products, milk products and the tropical oils for thousands of years; it is the advent of modern processed vegetable oil that is associated with the epidemic of modern degenerative disease, not the consumption of saturated fats.
The Fat-Soluble Activators

The crux of Dr. Price's research has to do with what he called the "fat-soluble activators," vitamins found in the fats and organ meats of grass-fed animals and in certain seafoods, such as fish eggs, shellfish, oily fish and fish liver oil. The three fat-soluble activators are vitamin A, vitamin D and a nutrient he referred to as Activator X, now considered to be vitamin K2, the animal form of vitamin K. In traditional diets, levels of these key nutrients were about ten times higher than levels in diets based on the foods of modern commerce, containing sugar, white flour and vegetable oil. Dr. Price

referred to these vitamins as activators because they serve as the catalysts for mineral absorption. Without them, minerals cannot by used by the body, no matter how plentiful they may be in the diet. Modern research completely validates the findings of Dr. Price. We now know that vitamin A is vital for mineral and protein metabolism, the prevention of birth defects, the optimum development of infants and children, protection against infection, the production of stress and sex hormones, thyroid function, and healthy eyes, skin and bones. Vitamin A is depleted by stress, infection, fever, heavy exercise, exposure to pesticides and industrial chemicals, and excess protein consumption (hence our warnings against the consumption of excess protein in the form of lean meat, lowfat milk and protein powders.) Modern research has also revealed the many roles played by vitamin D, which is needed for mineral metabolism, healthy bones and nervous system, muscle tone, reproductive health, insulin production, protection against depression, and protection against chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease. Vitamin K plays an important role in growth and facial development, normal reproduction, development of healthy bones and teeth, protection against calcification and inflammation of the arteries, myelin synthesis and learning capacity. Modern health literature is rife with misinformation about the fat-soluble vitamins. Many health writers claim that humans can obtain adequate vitamin A from plant foods. But the carotenes in plant foods are not true vitamin A. Instead, they serve as precursors that are converted into vitamin A in the small intestine. Human beings are not good converters of vitamin A, especially as infants or when they suffer from diabetes, thyroid problems or intestinal disorders. Thus, for optimal health, humans require animal foods containing liberal amounts of vitamin A. Similarly, many claim that adequate vitamin D can be obtained from a short daily exposure to sunlight. But the body only makes vitamin D when the sun is directly overhead, that is, in the summer months, during midday. For most of the year (and even in the summer for those who do not make a practice of sunbathing), humans must obtain vitamin D from foods. As for vitamin K, most health books mention only its role in blood clotting, without recognizing the many other vital roles played by this nutrient.

Vitamins A, D and K work synergistically. Vitamins A and D tell cells to make certain proteins; after the cellular enzymes make these proteins, they are activated by vitamin K. This synergy explains reports of toxicity from taking vitamins A, D or K in isolation. All three of these nutrients must come together in the diet or the body will develop deficiencies in the missing activators. The vital roles of these fat-soluble vitamins and the high levels found in the diets of healthy traditional peoples confirm the importance of pasture-feeding livestock. If domestic animals are not consuming green grass, vitamins A and K will be largely missing from their fat, organ meats, butterfat and egg yolks; if the animals are not raised in the sunlight, vitamin D will be largely missing from these foods. Because it is so difficult to obtain adequate fat-soluble activators in the modern diet, Dr. Price recommended cod liver oil to provide vitamins A and D, along with a source of vitamin K, such as butter from grass-fed animals or what he called high-vitamin butter oil, made by low-temperature centrifuging of butter from cows eating rapidly growing grass. Consumed in liberal amounts during pregnancy, lactation and the period of growth, these nutrients ensure the optimal physical and mental development of children; consumed by adults, these nutrients protect against acute and chronic disease. It is important to choose cod liver oil with care as many brands contain very little vitamin D, with potential toxicity of vitamin A. Click here for an over view of cod liver oil and our brand recommendations.
What's Wrong With "Politically Correct" Nutrition?

"Avoid saturated fats." Saturated fats play many important roles in the body. They provide integrity to the cell wall, promote the body's use of essential fatty acids, enhance the immune system, protect the liver and contribute to strong bones. The lungs and the kidneys cannot work without saturated fat. Saturated fats do not cause heart disease. In fact, saturated fats are the preferred food for the heart. Because your body needs saturated fats, it makes them out of carbohydrates and excess protein when there are not enough in the diet.

"Limit cholesterol." Dietary cholesterol contributes to the strength of the intestinal wall and helps babies and children develop a healthy brain and nervous system. Foods that contain cholesterol also provide many other important nutrients. Only oxidized cholesterol, found in most powdered milk and powdered eggs, contributes to heart disease. Powdered milk is added to 1% and 2% milk. "Use more polyunsaturated oils." Polyunsaturates in more than small amounts contribute to cancer, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, learning disabilities, intestinal problems and premature aging. Large amounts of polyunsaturated fats are new to the human diet, due to the modern use of commercial liquid vegetable oils. Even olive oil, a monounsaturated fat considered to be healthy, can cause imbalances at the cellular level if consumed in large amounts. "Avoid red meat." Red meat is a rich source of nutrients that protect the heart and nervous system; these include vitamins B12 and B6, zinc, phosphorus, carnitine and coenzyme-Q10. "Cut back on eggs." Eggs are nature's perfect food, providing excellent protein, the gamut of vitamins and important fatty acids that contribute to the health of the brain and nervous system. Americans had less heart disease when they ate more eggs. Egg substitutes cause rapid death in test animals. "Restrict salt." Salt is crucial to digestion and assimilation. Salt is also necessary for the development and function of the nervous system. "Eat lean meat and drink lowfat milk." Lean meat and lowfat milk lack fat-soluble vitamins needed to assimilate the protein and minerals in meat and milk. Consumption of lowfat foods can lead to depletion of vitamin A and D reserves.

"Limit fat consumption to 30 percent of calories." Thirty percent calories as fat is too low for most people, leading to low blood sugar and fatigue. Traditional diets contained 30 percent to 80 percent of calories as healthy fats, mostly of animal origin. "Eat 6-11 servings of grains per day." Most grain products are made from white flour, which is devoid of nutrients. Additives in white flour can cause vitamin deficiencies. Whole grain products can cause mineral deficiencies and intestinal problems unless properly prepared. "Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day." Fruits and vegetables receive an average of 10 applications of pesticides, from seed to storage. Consumers should seek out organic produce. Quality counts! "Eat more soy foods." Modern soy foods block mineral absorption, inhibit protein digestion, depress thyroid function and contain potent carcinogens.

Photo Copyright Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, All Rights Reserved,www.ppnf.org

Dr. Price consistently found that healthy isolated peoples, whose diets contained adequate nutrients from animal protein and fat, not only enjoyed excellent health but also had a cheerful, positive attitude to life. He noted that most prison and asylum inmates have facial deformities indicative of prenatal nutritional deficiencies.

Traditional Versus Modern Diets

Traditional Diets Maximized Nutrients Foods from fertile soil Organ meats preferred over muscle meats Natural animal fats Animals on pasture Dairy products raw and/or fermented

Modern Diets Minimize Nutrients Foods from depleted soil Muscle meats preferred, few organ meats Processed vegetable oils Animals in confinement Dairy products pasteurized or ultrapasteurized Grains refined, and/or extruded Soy foods industrially processed, consumed in large amounts MSG, artificial flavorings Refined sweeteners

Grains and legumes soaked and/or fermented Soy foods given long fermentation, consumed in small amounts Bone broths Unrefined sweeteners

Lacto-fermented vegetables Lacto-fermented beverages Unrefined salt Natural vitamins occurring in foods Traditional cooking Tradition seeds, open pollination

Processed, pasteurized pickles Modern soft drinks Refined salt Synthetic vitamins taken alone or added to foods

Microwave, Irradiation Hybrid seeds, GMO seeds

Myths and Truths About Nutrition

Myth: Heart disease in America is caused by consumption of cholesterol and saturated fat from animal products. Truth: During the period of rapid increase in heart disease (1920-1960), American consumption of animal fats declined but consumption of hydrogenated and industrially processed vegetable fats increased dramatically (USDA-HNIS). Myth: Saturated fat clogs arteries. Truth: The fatty acids found in artery clogs are mostly unsaturated (74%) of which 41% are polyunsaturated (Lancet 1994 344:1195). Myth: Vegetarians live longer. Truth: The annual all-cause death rate of vegetarian men is slightly more than that of non-vegetarian men (.93% vs .89%); the annual all-cause death rate of vegetarian women is significantly more than that of non-vegetarian women (.86% vs .54%) (Wise Traditions 2000 1:4:16-17). Myth: Vitamin B12 can be obtained from certain plant sources such as blue-green algae and fermented soy products. Truth: Vitamin B12 is not absorbed from plant sources. Modern soy products actually increase the body's need for B12 ( Soybeans: Chemistry &

Technology Vol 1 1972). Myth: For good health, serum cholesterol should be less than 180 mg/dl. Truth: The all-cause death rate is higher in individuals with cholesterol levels lower than 180 mg/dl ( Circulation1992 86:3). Myth: Animal fats cause cancer and heart disease. Truth: Animal fats contain many nutrients that protect against cancer and heart disease; elevated rates of cancer and heart disease are associated with consumption of large amounts of vegetable oil (Federation Proceedings July 1978 37:2215). Myth: Children benefit from a lowfat diet. Truth: Children on lowfat diets suffer from growth problems, failure to thrive and learning disabilities (Am J Dis Child 1989 May;143(5):537-42). Myth: A lowfat diet will make you "feel better...and increase your joy of living." Truth: Lowfat diets are associated with increased rates of depression, psychological problems, fatigue, violence and suicide (Br J Nutr 1998 Jan;79(1)2330). Myth: To avoid heart disease, we should use margarine instead of butter. Truth: Margarine eaters have twice the rate of heart disease as butter eaters (Nutrition Week 3/22/91 21:12). Myth: Americans do not consume enough essential fatty acids (EFAs). Truth: Americans consume far too much of one kind of EFA (omega-6 EFAs found in most polyunsaturated vegetable oils) but not enough of another kind of EFA (omega-3 EFAs found in fish, fish oils, eggs from pasture-fed chickens, dark green vegetables and herbs, and oils from certain seeds such as flax and chia, nuts such as walnuts and in small amounts in all whole grains) (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1991 54:438-63).

Myth: The "cave man diet" was low in fat. Truth: Throughout the world, primitive peoples sought out and consumed fat from fish and shellfish, water fowl, sea mammals, land birds, insects, reptiles, rodents, bears, dogs, pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, game, eggs, nuts and milk products (Abrams, Food & Evolution 1987). Myth: A vegetarian diet will protect you against atherosclerosis. Truth: The International Atherosclerosis Project found that vegetarians had just as much atherosclerosis as meat eaters ( Laboratory Investigations 1968 18:498). Myth: Lowfat diets prevent breast cancer. Truth: A recent study found that women on very lowfat diets (less than 20%) had the same rate of breast cancer as women who consumed large amounts of fat (New England Journal of Medicine 2/8/96). Myth: Coconut oil causes heart disease. Truth: When coconut oil was fed as 7% of energy to patients recovering from heart attacks, the patients had greater improvement compared to untreated controls, and no difference compared to patients treated with corn or safflower oils. Populations that consume coconut oil have low rates of heart disease. Coconut oil may also be one of the most useful oils to prevent heart disease because of its antiviral and antimicrobial characteristics (Journal of the American Medical Association 1967 202:1119-1123; American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1981 34:1552). Myth: Saturated fats inhibit production of anti-inflammatory prostaglandins. Truth: Saturated fats actually improve the production of all prostaglandins by facilitating the conversion of essential fatty acids ("Tripping Lightly Down the Prostaglindin Pathways," westonaprice.org). Myth: Arachidonic acid in foods like liver, butter and egg yolks causes production of "bad" inflammatory prostaglandins. Truth: Series 2 prostaglandins that the body makes from arachidonic acid both encourage and inhibit inflammation under appropriate circumstances. Arachidonic acid is vital for the function of the brain and nervous system (Ibid).

Myth: Beef causes colon cancer Truth: Argentina, with higher beef consumption, has lower rates of colon cancer than the US. Mormons have lower rates of colon cancer than vegetarian Seventh Day Adventists (Cancer Research 1975 35:3513).
Myths and Truths About Soy

Myth: Use of soy as a food dates back many thousands of years. Truth: Soy was first used as a food during the late Chou dynasty (1134-246 BC) only after the Chinese learned to ferment soy beans to make foods like tempeh, natto and tamari. Myth: Asians consume large amounts of soy foods. Truth: Average consumption of soy foods in China is 10 grams (about 2 teaspoons) per day and up to 60 grams in parts of Japan. Asians consume soy foods in small amounts as a condiment, and not as a replacement for animal foods. Myth: Modern soy foods confer the same health benefits as traditionally fermented soy foods. Truth: Most modern soy foods are not fermented to neutralize toxins in soybeans, and are processed in a way that denatures proteins and increases levels of carcinogens. Myth: Soy foods provide complete protein. Truth: Like all legumes, soybeans are deficient in sulfur-containing amino acids methionine and cystine. In addition, modern processing denatures fragile lysine. Myth: Fermented soy foods can provide vitamin B12 in vegetarian diets. Truth: The compound that resembles vitamin B12 in soy cannot be used by the human body; in fact, soy foods cause the body to require more B12.

Myth: Soy formula is safe for infants. Truth: Soy foods contain trypsin inhibitors that inhibit protein digestion and affect pancreatic function. In test animals, diets high in trypsin inhibitors led to stunted growth and pancreatic disorders. Soy foods increase the body's requirement for vitamin D, needed for strong bones and normal growth. Phytic acid in soy foods results in reduced bioavailabilty of iron and zinc which are required for the health and development of the brain and nervous system. Soy also lacks cholesterol, likewise essential for the development of the brain and nervous system. Megadoses of phytoestrogens in soy formula have been implicated in the current trend toward increasingly premature sexual development in girls and delayed or retarded sexual development in boys. Myth: Soy foods can prevent osteoporosis. Truth: Soy foods can cause deficiencies in calcium and vitamin D, both needed for healthy bones. Calcium from bone broths and vitamin D from seafood, lard and organ meats prevent osteoporosis in Asian countries--not soy foods. Myth: Modern soy foods protect against many types of cancer. Truth: A British government report concluded that there is little evidence that soy foods protect against breast cancer or any other forms of cancer. In fact, soy foods may result in an increased risk of cancer. Myth: Soy foods protect against heart disease. Truth: In some people, consumption of soy foods will lower cholesterol, but there is no evidence that lowering cholesterol lowers one's risk of developing heart disease. Myth: Soy estrogens (isoflavones) are good for you. Truth: Soy isoflavones are phyto-endocrine disrupters. At dietary levels, they can prevent ovulation and stimulate the growth of cancer cells. Eating as little as 30 mg isoflavones (from about 30 g soy protein) per day can result in hypothyroidism with symptoms of lethargy, constipation, weight gain and fatigue.

Myth: Soy foods are safe and beneficial for women to use in their postmenopausal years. Truth: Soy foods can stimulate the growth of estrogen-dependent tumors and cause thyroid problems. Low thyroid function is associated with difficulties in menopause. Myth: Phytoestrogens in soy foods can enhance mental ability. Truth: A recent study found that women with the highest levels of estrogen in their blood had the lowest levels of cognitive function; in Japanese Americans, tofu consumption in mid-life is associated with the occurrence of Alzheimer's disease in later life. Myth: Soy isoflavones and soy protein isolate have GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status. Truth: Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) recently withdrew its application to the FDA for GRAS status for soy isoflavones following an outpouring of protest from the scientific community. The FDA never approved GRAS status for soy protein isolate because of concern regarding the presence of toxins and carcinogens in processed soy. Myth: Soy foods are good for your sex life. Truth: Numerous animal studies show that soy foods cause infertility in animals. Soy consumption lowers testosterone levels in men. Tofu was consumed by Buddhist monks to reduce libido. Myth: Soybeans are good for the environment. Truth: Most soybeans grown throughout the world are genetically engineered to allow farmers to use large amounts of herbicides, creating toxic runoff. Myth: Soybeans are good for developing nations. Truth: In third world countries, soybeans replace traditional crops and transfer the value-added of processing from the local population to multinational corporations.
Soy Infant Formula: Birth Control Pills for Babies

Babies fed soy-based formula have 13,000 to 22,000 times more estrogen compounds in their blood than babies fed milk-based formula. Infants exclusively fed soy formula receive the estrogenic equivalent (based on body weight) of at least five birth control pills per day. Male infants undergo a "testosterone surge" during the first few months of life, when testosterone levels may be as high as those of an adult male. During this period, baby boys are programmed to express male characteristics after puberty, not only in the development of their sexual organs and other masculine physical traits, but also in setting patterns in the brain characteristic of male behavior. In animals, soy feeding indicates that phytoestrogens in soy are powerful endocrine disrupters. Soy infant feeding reduces testosterone levels in male marmoset monkeys as much as 70% and cannot be ignored as a possible cause of disrupted development patterns in boys, including learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder. Male children exposed to DES, a synthetic estrogen, had testes smaller than normal on maturation. Almost 15 percent of white girls and 50 percent of African-American girls show signs of puberty, such as breast development and pubic hair, before the age of eight. Some girls are showing sexual development before the age of three. Premature development of girls has been linked to the use of soy formula and exposure to environmental estrogen-mimickers such as PCBs and DDE. Animal studies indicate that consumption of more than minimal amounts of phytoestrogens during pregnancy may have adverse affects on the developing fetus, the timing of puberty later in life, and thinking and behavior patterns, especially in male offspring. For a full list of references and further information on the dangers of modern soy products visit our Soy Alert! section.
Coronary Heart Disease: What the Experts Say

"In Framingham, Massachusetts, the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower people's serum cholesterol. . . we found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories weighed the least and were the most physically active." --William Castelli, MD, Director, The Framingham Study

"The diet-heart hypothesis has been repeatedly shown to be wrong, and yet, for complicated reasons of pride, profit and prejudice, the hypothesis continues to be exploited by scientists, fund-raising enterprises, food companies and even governmental agencies. The public is being deceived by the greatest health scam of the century." --George Mann, ScD, MD, Former Co-Director, The Framingham Study "An analysis of cholesterol values . . . in 1,700 patients with atherosclerotic disease revealed no definite correlation between serum cholesterol levels and the nature and extent of atherosclerotic disease." --Michael DeBakey, MD, Famous Heart Surgeon "The relevant literature [on CHD] is permeated with fraudulent material that is designed to convert negative evidence into positive evidence with respect to the lipid hypothesis. That fraud is relatively easy to detect." --Russell L. Smith, PhD "Whatever causes coronary heart disease, it is not primarily a high intake of saturated fat." --Michael Gurr, PhD, Renowned Lipid Chemist, Author of authoritative study on CHD The Weston A. Price Foundation is supported solely by membership contributions and private donations and does not accept funding from the meat or dairy industries.
Principles of Holistic Dentistry

In addition to his work on nutrition, Dr. Price conducted extensive research into the destructive effects of root canals, detailed in his two-volume work Dental Infections Oral & Systemic and Dental Infections & the Degenerative Diseases. His conclusions, ignored by the orthodox dental establishment for over 50 years, are gaining renewed acceptance as holistic practitioners are discovering that the first step to recovery from degenerative disease often involves removal of all root canals in the patient's mouth. The principles of holistic dentistry, based on the research of Weston Price, are as follows:

Eat nutrient-dense whole foods, properly grow and prepared.

Avoid root canals. If you have root canals and suspect that they are causing disease, have them removed by a knowledgeable dentist. Avoid mercury (amalgam) fillings. If you have amalgam fillings and suspect they are contributing to health problems, have them removed by a holistic dentist who specializes in mercury filling replacement.

Orthodontics should include measures to widen the palate. When it is necessary to extract teeth, do so in such a way as to avoid leaving the jaw bone with cavitations, which can become focal points of infection.

Photo Copyright Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, All Rights Reserved,www.ppnf.org Good dental health begins with the diet of both parents. The "primitive" Samoan girl (left) was born to parents who ate nutrient-rich native foods. The "civilized" Samoan boy (right) was born to parents who had abandoned their traditional diet. He has crowded dental arches and will be more susceptible to dental decay and chronic illness. The Weston A. Price Foundation

The Weston A. Price Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity founded in 1999 to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated nonindustrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets. The Foundation is dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the American diet through education, research and activism and supports a number of movements that contribute to this objective including accurate nutrition instruction, organic and biodynamic farming, pasture-feeding of livestock, community-supported farms, honest and informative labeling, prepared parenting and nurturing therapies. Specific goals include establishment of universal access to clean, certified raw milk through A Campaign for RealMilk (www.realmilk.com) and a ban on the use of soy formula for infants through its Soy Alert! project. The Foundation seeks to establish a laboratory to test nutrient content of foods, particularly butter produced under various conditions; to conduct research into the "X" Factor, discovered by Dr. Price; and to determine the effects of traditional preparation methods on nutrient content and availability in whole foods. The board and membership of the Weston A. Price Foundation stand united in the belief that modern technology should be harnessed as a servant to the wise and nurturing traditions of our ancestors rather than used as a force that is destructive to the environment and human health; and that science and knowledge can validate those traditions. The Foundation's quarterly magazine, Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, is dedicated to exploring the scientific validation of dietary, agricultural and medical traditions throughout the world. It features illuminating and thought-provoking articles on current scientific research; human diets; nontoxic agriculture; and holistic therapies. In addition, it serves as a source for foods that have been conscientiously grown and processed. An extensive system of local chapters also helps consumers find healthy foods available in their communities..
Become a Member of the Weston A. Price Foundation

Membership in The Weston A. Price Foundation is your opportunity to receive our informative quarterly magazine WiseTraditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts and support our projects and objectives, including:

Nutrient-Dense Foods Traditional Fats Lacto-Fermentation Broth Is Beautiful A Campaign for Real Milk Truth in Labeling Prepared Parenting Soy Alert! Life-Giving Water Non-Toxic Farming Pasture-Fed Livstock Nuturing Therapies Community-Supported Agriculture "I challenge anyone to find a more cutting-edge, transformative and provocative health magazine than Wise Traditions. With every issue I am awestruck at the no-holds-barred shattering of myths and distortions foisted on us by both mainstream and alternative sources." --MB, Nicasio, CA "Wise Traditions appeals to people of all backgrounds. People with virtually no health or scientific training find this journal easy to comprehend and highly practical for making positive and often dramatic changes in their health. And some of the most advanced health practitioners tell me that they continually

discover information in Wise Traditions that has increased their efficacy as they practice the healing arts." --CC, Milwaukee, WI "When Wise Traditions arrives, we stop everything and read every page." --RP, Baltimore, MD Click here to read more of our basic brochures on topics such as cancer, trans fats, and cholesterol. You teach, you teach, you teach! --Last words of Dr. Weston A. Price, June 23, 1948 Copyright: 1999 The Weston A. Price Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Set as favorite Bookmark Email this Hits: 158769

Comments (45)
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Reply to alterego
written by tjboyd, Mar 07 2013

GMO anything is evil.

+3

What about GMO soybeans? I didn't see anything in the soy section related to their danger, equal to the GMO BT corn, producing its own pesticide
written by alterego, Mar 06 2013

What about GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) soybeans? I didn't see anything in the soy section related to their danger, equal to the GMO BT corn, producing its own pesticide debilitating insects by attacking their stomachs, same for cows, pigs, & humans, not to mention the reduction of offspring and male genitalia shrinking.

Thank you!
+1

written by Lallenia, Feb 25 2013

This is absolutely AMAZING information that you have made accessible to us. Thank you SO much for starting this foundation! I hope enough people will start educating themselves then make changes to their own lives so eventually we will have a healthier world.

apple cider vinegar
+1

written by Jim Weaver, Dec 10 2012

Two weeks ago I had some heart flutter. I began taking a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of grape juice in the morning, afternoon and evening. The flutter has virtually disappeared and my heart now has normal turbulence. I have been eating raw butter and drinking raw milk for long time and my cholesterol ratios and triglycerides are in the optimum range. Raw foods, including lots of fat, are the way to live. This is an awesome website.

+3

Eat well to feed your brain and body

written by Christine Green, Sep 17 2012

Enjoyed reading all this info shedding light on many myths of proper eating. I hope more become acquainted with this way of thinking about foods and the proper sources to nourish our brain and body.

What's Good about Eating'
written by Christine Green, Sep 17 2012 +0

Wow-what an abundance of good information you are sharing through this foundation. More folks need to examine our dietary habits and learn or rediscover what makes a healthy human.

...
+0

written by Christine, Aug 19 2012

Two years ago, I decided to go vegetarian for breathing problems that began to develop. I felt better at first, and though I strictly adhered to good, whole foods and was very well informed as to how to go about balancing a diet, what foods should be eaten together to boost vitamin absorption, etc. My year and a half stint with vegetarianism, despite my getting enough vitamins, minerals, fats, calories, amino acids on paper, led to the worst health crisis of my life. My teeth have always been problematic, therefore the first of my problems began with the literal disintegration of my teeth. Broke teeth, cavities springing up at an alarming rate, yellowing teeth and terrible tooth pain - not to mention thousands of dollars in dental bills. The next problem to strike was iron deficiency anemia, not once, but THREE times in the span of 6 months! I was deathly ill. My brain was in a fog, my energy was non existent, and the skin under my eyes was dark - I looked like a corpse. I researched heme vs non-heme iron, introduced red meat in my diet which I took with

orange juice to assist iron absorption. Yet I still had two more bouts of anemia. That's when I began researching into a different type of diet and found Weston Price and Paleo. I completely reversed my diet, omitting 99% of grains, pasta, olive oil, and the high amount of nuts I was eating, mainly cashews and soy, which I was to learn from Weston Price, contained mineral blocking phytic acid. In hindsight, my bouts of anemia were shortly after consuming high amounts of these products. It was only when I started eating red meat that my heart murmur felt less pronounced, that I lost fat without sacrificing muscle mass. Eggs, fish, cheese (a miracle food that has REVERSED MY DENTAL PROBLEMS - my cavities are remineralizing at a rapid rate, my teeth are brighter, whiter), butter... all the foods we are told to avoid gave me sparkling good health for the first time in my 31 years. I recently started drinking whole milk, and noticed it not only made my breasts somewhat larger (unexpected benefit!), it has aided the healing of my teeth even further. They are whiter still, and a wisdom tooth set to be pulled, which has been impacted for 10 years, has now started breaking through the gums! Whole milk has cured my skin of that problem most people of Irish descent seem to have - the redness to my face is getting better every day, my skin and hair is softer. Please excuse the length of this, but as someone who started life with a nutritional disadvantage, it is astounding to me the healing benefits of animal fats. I vehemently believe the human race cannot thrive on vegetable products. The ethics equation is an invalid one - bear in mind I am aware of the cruelty issues that goes on in many slaughterhouses and with the way food animals are raised - but the issue there needs to be improving conditions, not eliminating animals as a food source. The slaughter itself, when done in a humane manner, is not ethically wrong. Nature is simply brutal, and despite our intelligence, the fact that we are conscious of that brutality, we are still a part of Nature. I am extremely grateful to the Weston Price foundation for making this wonderful information available to the public, and can agree from experience that vegetarianism is a dangerous path to travel down.

Raw milk, Low-rated comment [Show] I have Melasma!
written by Angel, Aug 14 2012 +24

Hello, I am really concern because I have melasma, and I have try everything. a couple of months ago I went to a very expensive plastic surgeon to get a skin treatment and after 5 days my skin was so beautiful, everything was perfect but now the melasma came back and it looks horrible, Honestly I don't know what to do! But, even worse last year I went to the doctor and I ask him for a hormonal test and went the results came back they told me

that the levels were just right. What can I do? I have melasma in my nose like a line an my chicks and also in my upper lip and this is theworse place bacause it looks like if I have a mustache!

this proves what is wrong with the modern western diet
written by richard wizardy, Aug 13 2012 +7

I have been reading about the effects of estrogen and low fat diets causing so many health problems and and not being good for you. Dr Price proved it more than 50 years ago and it has taken this long for people to start to wake up to the B.S. we have been sold by the medical and food establishment for to long.

Re: An "egregious" error
written by Sara, Jul 19 2012 +2

Maybe "floppy" vs "stiff" was the wrong set of descriptors. While a cell membrane is indeed semi-permeable (which implies more than just holes in the membrane allowing stuff to freely move in or out of a cell--many, many things require channel proteins to get across the membrane rather than just simply diffusing across), the types of lipids it is composed of affects just how rigid it is. It's like trying to contain a liquid in a plastic box (cell wall) vs. a glob of butter with an indentation (cell membrane with lots of saturated fat) vs. a pool of canola oil (too many unsaturated fats). We want cell membranes that have lots of integrity (or "rigidity", or "floppiness/stiffness") so we're not struggling to contain the stuff inside them, since we don't have cell walls to do that for us. We also want the membrane to be flexible, since we do more than just sit around and photosynthesize all day. We can change the integrity of the membrane to a degree by changing the types of fats we eat. So, cell membranes sure can be "floppy" or "stiff". No egregious error there at all, as I see it...

+5


...

written by P Roth, Jul 14 2012

Att: Administrator, I wrote my opinion in word then copied and pasted. I think I neglected to copy the first sentence. If you are brave enough to include my post, could you please add this to the beginning. Thank you. There are many good and valid nutritional points that I wholeheartedly support, however, I have a big problem with one serious error and several omissions.

Principles of Healthy Diets
+8

written by P Roth, Jul 14 2012

Human cells are composed of: 1.the cell membrane (its outside or coating), 2. the nucleus (its center or brain) and 3. the cytoplasm (everything in between), which is also called cytosol. Humans and animals do not have cell walls; plants have cell walls which go all the way around the cell membrane. In fact, cell walls are one of the big differences between plants and animals. Unlike plants algae and fungi, the exterior cell membrane that holds the cell together in humans and animals has tiny openings that allow things to flow in and out (called semi-permeable), so there goes the silly idea of human cells being "floppy" or "stiff". This error is so egregious that by default it causes everything else to seem highly questionable. The second problem involves errors of omission. Its possible that this foundation does not know about the recent scientific concerns between cows milk and auto-immune disease or it could be that to mention it opens up a Pandora s box best left closed. However, high quality epidemiolo gical studies are unveiling the role that cow's milk protein plays in people who have a genetic predisposition to auto-immune disease, especially MS, Diabetes Type 1 and Parkinson's. Studies from Germany and Canada show that certain proteins in cow's milk mimic part of the nerve myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, the part of the myelin (the sheath that covers nerves) thought to initiate the auto-immune reaction in MS. Milk protein is also linked with Diabetes Type 1 and Parkinson's. The scientific concern about this is so great that a study out of the University of Helsinki

triggered a massive international project involving researchers in 15 countries who have recruited over 2,000 children to determine if keeping babies with a genetic predisposition to Diabetes away from cow's milk will prevent this disease from occurring. Most importantly, to highlight that people have different genetic tendencies and everyone does not conveniently fit under one dietary umbrella: after 34 years of following 144 patients, Professor of Neurology, Dr. Roy Swank of Oregon showed that patients with MS only got better when their diet was especially high in fish (Omega 3s) and low (less than 20%) in saturated fats. Continuing in this vein, Professor George Jelinek, MD, Melbourne, AU writes in his book Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis: Basic science research in the laboratory has confirmed that people with MS have more saturated fat in their cell membranes and less polyunsaturated fat. A very low saturated-fat diet seems the optimal diet to facilitate MS recovery which means: a plant-based, whole food diet, which includes 17-23g/day of essential omega-3 fatty acids either consumed as supplements or fish.

...
+4

written by elloretta, Jul 07 2012

"Saturated fats play many important roles in the body. They provide integrity to the cell wall..." Humans do not have cell walls...

Stunning article.
+10

written by Martin, Jun 19 2012

Just finished reading this article. I have to say it's one of the most complete and detailed resources about diet and nutrition (yet not only about them). I have learned a lot of new information and I am grateful for it - just wanted to thank you. Good luck!

+4

President

written by Walter Bauer, May 18 2012

See our video. Food is a product of the ecosystem and so are we. Restoring the ecosystem to its original state takes effort. We are working hard to make that happen.

saturated fat diet is for elite
written by luke , May 09 2012 +3

this diet sounds great but ,dont have access to this life style all day,grass feed beef is very expensive .any answers.want to learn more and get some ideas, ,Thanks Luke

Great ideas
+5

written by Merry, Apr 22 2012

You have giving the world something to strive for. Thanks you

+1


GMFs, saturated fats.....

written by bernadette slosmanis, Apr 18 2012

I'm in Canada. Some supermarket fruit labelled "organic" never goes off. Am wary about food coming from the US because GMFs are not labelled. Found it hard to believe that the FDA & other bodies actually raid farms, put people in jail, and destroy food - Health Ranger website, but now your website elaborates on that! People don't seem to think! To me it's commonsense that pasteurized anything has no nutritional value, or very little, since pasteurizing involves very high temperatures. I love the info re: red meat. I need it for the protein so I eat it. I love crispy chicken skin, I eat the skin on wild salmon (nobody else likes it), I like the taste of goose fat, duck fat - which you're promoting. Weight's normal. Sad about soy infant formula information! information! soy is genetically modified....avoid it.....Thankyou for all this important food information.

high healthy fat intake vs. trainings
written by irst, Mar 20 2012 +3

Dear WAPF, My question is about weight and endurance training and high fat-intake. When studing "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" the primitives that ate whole food usually have had a great and strong body. Does it mean that by combination of strength and endurance trainig you can develope lean muscles and have 'a low' body fat percent, event though your diet contains, for example, at least 50% of healthy fat ? I am sorry if my question is stupid, but I would like to know: even if yoru fat-intake is high you can develope a lean muscles by for example endurancestamina trainings. Thank you for your answer

+16


Raw milk question Hi Chef Jem, After reading some of the recommended books fromWise traditions I came to realize the benefit of raw cows milk. I live in Bahrain, in the Middle East, and have finally hunted down a farm (if i can call it that) here. I got my hands on raw cows milk, but now am concerned. I have been told to heat the milk before consumption and even though did not want to at first due to defeating the purpose of it being raw, I am now wondering if I should. The cow that they milk, is kept contained in decent size area but is not roaming around freely. The chickens, however, are running around the cow constantly. Also from what I have seen it is fed both greens and dried pita breads. The pita bread is plenty and always kept In a bin in front of the cow and some have greenish stuff on it too (my guess mold). They do feed it grass and other plants but I don't think it is their predominant feed. So should I even bother to get this kind of raw milk? Or should I get it but heat it at home? I'm so confused.

written by Fehmina, Dec 26 2011

Fatty Diet
written by Tom Johnson, Jun 28 2011 +34

I have often looked back at the diet of my grandparents. My paternal grandmother is 96 and still lives at home, by herself. My Paternal grandfather died at 91, my maternal grandmother died at 97. Their diet was just like this. My paternal grandparents lived on a farm. Breakfast was usually eggs, bacon, toast (homemade bread), butter, lard, fried apples, biscuits and gravy. Lunch was usually either sandwiches from leftover meat (never deli) or homemade soup made with lard. Dinner was usually meat from the farm, along with fresh garden vegetables. According to modern science, they should have died an early age with all sorts of diseases. I am convinced that me and my family have to return to this type of diet.


Welcome!

+11

written by Karen, Jun 11 2011

I am delighted to be a part of this foundation. I have used diet as a way to get well and as a healthy discipline for over half my life. It is my way of life, not only for my wellness but as a way to support the health of this planet we so dearly love and need to protect.

Growing up
+3

written by Janet, May 05 2011

Growing up we used to have bread and dripping and eat all the full cream milk (not homogenized), we ate the fat on meat and Mum baked the roast in lard and none of us had weight problems. My last two trips to the doctors my cholesterol has gotten higher and higher, despite being on a low fat, very healthy diet with meat, veg, fruit and wholegrains. I found this site from another link and have decided to go back to eating butter and fats (in moderation as I used to) and see if that makes a difference!! Love the info on soy and fats, a wonderful information site. Thanks

Raw milk, bacon and bread-super food!
written by Gdaiva, Apr 29 2011 +5

I grow up on raw milk! Every morning we had breakfast of pancakes or hot cereal with a lot of butter. We cooked everything on pig lard. My all 4 grandparents died at 86-87, I'm 44 years old and never been overweight. I don't have a health insurance and not planning to get one, cuz I'm not planning to need one. Its funny, but I can't even call this diet plan, it is just the way I eat, except that now I'm in America and its hard to find real food. But I'm moving to

Alaska this spring and going to make as much of my own food as possible. God bless you all!

RN
+7

written by Wendy Sherman, Apr 26 2011

I am interested in this concept of eating and have a friend who eats this way.

...
+0

written by don, Jan 23 2011

Examples of Lean meat? Do you have to see tha fat in a piece of meat and for it to be acceptable?

Nutritional Response Testing
+5

written by Dr. Jerry Hochman, Jan 15 2011

I am a 28 year practitioner of Chiropractic in the Atlanta area. I have learned Nutritional Response Testing, and have been amazed that so many patients are mineral deficient and suffering from various allergies from heavy metals, chemicals, various foods, etc. The use of a better diet and whole food supplements has enhanced my practice.


Why people who ate more cholesterol had lower serum cholesterol?
written by Bruce Hart, Nov 28 2010

+10

Has it been ruled out that it wasn't because the people with higher serum cholesterol purposely ate less because of that?

Response to jimmyv Hi jimmyv, Your diet sounds excellent, I'm no expert but from what I've read from WAPF, it all fits in nicely. One thing I would caution for your alcohol is the sulphur preservative, that some micronbrewers can't avoid. Go for organic/biodynamic options. My father used to make his own wine and all his friends would say that they'd never wake up with a hangover. I'm really interested in your progress with bodybuilding. I'm looking at starting weight training 100% natural. Have you had any good results? Would you mind if I asked you some questions via email? My address is sydtom at gmail.com.
+2

written by sydtom, Nov 07 2010

...
written by Caroline Boles, Oct 29 2010 +4

I feel as if the lights are being turned on! This way of living and nourishing our bodies seems to be in perfect rhythm with the natural desires! I always desired to eat the good meats and dairy and veggies and fruits, but somewhere along the way almost all these foods have been demonized. WAPF makes

good wholesome sense in a world where nutrition has gone off the deep end. This is a food revolution in our house! Thank you, thank you, can't thank you enough!!!!

college
+8

written by Ronny, Oct 28 2010

I am a college student trying to follow this diet. I used to eat a high-carb breakfast including orange juice, and I did not get many vegetables in my daily diet. Now, I am eating eggs with buttered whole-wheat toast almost every day, I no longer drink juice, and I get vegetables and full-fat dairy in every meal. Do you have any more tips on how I can improve.

...
written by Randy Hartwig, Sep 19 2010 +18

I like the comments by E Brooks stating that her grandmother gave her a book on the health secrets from the Caucasus and it matches what the Weston A Price foundation is teaching. We need to hear from more people who have information about the diets of traditional cultures.

My diet plan so far (a work in progress)
written by jimmyv, Aug 31 2010 +4

Hi Here's my diet plan: - rich in fresh or fresh-frozen healthy beefs, pork, eggs, salmon - some omega-3 rich tuna with no oil/water/salt added - rich in full fat real cheeses, raw cream, real butter (also considering grass fed ghee) - moderate in extra virgin olive oil, avocados - cook in virgin unrefined coconut oil - moderate to modest amount of healthy nuts - modest amount of fresh 'lower' sugary fruits - modest amount of non-starchy only vegetables - only choose breads that are sprouted whole grains with low carb and keep all breads at a super minimum - soak grains/legumes/nuts before consumption - no fruit juices, no sugary drinks, no pasta - no other vegetable oils, including canola - no high fructose corn syrup, no corn syrup - no hydrogenation, partial or full - very little to no sugary desserts - an occasional micro-brew beer (2-3 per week - can't resist) - an occasional red wine (maybe 1 per week) - a single cup of coffee daily with raw cream - purified water only - and maintain a generally low carb, under 50 total carbs [well chosen carbs] - adequate in protein, adequate in animal fats while taking the following supplemental nutrients: - Green Pastures Fermented Cod Liver Oil and High Vitamin Butter Oil daily - borage oil 300 GLA - vitamin C from ascerola cherry concentrate - Nutrilite's Intestiflora 7 (seven strands of probiotic, live culture bacteria) - whey protein / L-glutamine amino acid drink daily Oh, I am also currently doing heavy free-weight bodybuilding (to fatigue) every 3 days. I have considered the '6 days low carb - 1 day high carb' plan (carb cycling for insulin spike to fuel muscle growth)

Is this a healthy and good way to live? Am I missing something and/or doing anything terribly wrong? Thanks!

The use of Stevia should be further examined
written by LadyDove, Aug 20 2010 +20

I note that this diet includes stevia. According to the WebMD website stevia can cause infertility in men and women. Just something to consider when making choices.

grandmother
-3

written by lynette orlando, Aug 13 2010

I am currently taking classes at South West Inst. of Healing Arts. My current subject is wholefoods 1 and 2. Dr. Weston A. Price is referred to often in my studies. So excited about what I am learning. I have read many books on PH balance, Fibromyalgia cures, Cures they don't tell you about, body for life and so on. I am now on a path that makes sense for me and I want to help my daughter live healthier along with grandson with type 2 diabetes.Chef Rachel Matesz is my teacher a SWIHA she is a fan and now I am too.

+3

Awesome guide

written by Shawn Plep, Aug 13 2010

I've read about Dr. Price in a few different books, and also have started trying to follow his eating guidelines. It's usually more expensive than what I used to do (i.e. buy processed foods, eat fast food, and eat non-organic foods) but I think in the long run I'll save by having less medical bills.

retired
written by john kem, Jul 24 2010 +2

to be informed is to be forearmed and truth is essential to holy and righteous (right with God) living. your info is reflective of such a direction. thank you.

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+1

written by E Brooks, Jul 23 2010

Before my mother passed nearly 30 years ago, she left me a book with health secrets from the Caucasus. ( The group of people living in Russia with the average longevity over 100 years) . It sounds like a very similar if not exact diet! It is wonderful to hear about your site and also, the confirmation for me on so many other levels! Thank you!

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+11

written by Megan, Jun 21 2010

Do you have any recommendations for a good source of shellfish? I would like to try some, but don't know where to look. Thanks.

I'm Alive Again
+6

written by David Hester, Apr 22 2010

This website and not to mention beginner article has much valuable information that all should learn. I will for sure be sending people your way!

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+1

written by linda liberi, Mar 18 2010

great information for all ages

This is the master source, the keystone to nutrition
written by Brandon, Mar 17 2010 +2

I have read Dr. Price's book and gave it to a health conscious lady at church two years ago. This is the source for nutrition information. Now if only there was an equal organisation for physical exercise we would have something.

+4


Hey look, real science

written by Caveman Sam, Jan 25 2010

Can't sleep. This stuff is mind-expanding. I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of reading here over the next decade or so.

Dr.
+13

written by Anne-Lise Quinn, Jan 09 2010

As a mother of four, I am struggling to find ways for making my generally healthy kids, healthier and to feel satisfied that amid all the diets out there (and I have dabbled in raw, blood-group, and eat-to-live) this may be the one that makes us all feel at our best. Thanks.