A presentation at the 10th Annual Nephrology Symposium, an event organized by the Academy of Nephrology & Nephrology Clinic of the University General Hospital of Larissa, Department of Medicine of the University of Thessaly, discussed the important role vitamin K2 plays in vascular calcification and the potential impact for chronic kidney disease patients. A core element of the presentation was a discussion of the current VIKIPEDIA Trial, which uses the highest dosage of MenaQ7 Vitamin K2 as MK-7 to date: 1 mg daily.
One of those presenters was Stefanos Roumeliotis, lead researcher of the placebo-controlled, randomised, open-label intervention clinical trial “The Effect of Vitamin K2 Supplementation on Arterial stiffness and Cardiovascular Events in PEritonial DIAlysis (VIKIPEDIA)”. Dr. Roumeliotis and colleagues at Aristotle University of Thessoloniki are studying the effect of K2 supplementation (through the normalization of dp-ucMGP) on arterial stiffness and the occurrence of cardiovascular events.
“Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death in end-stage kidney disease patients undergoing maintenance dialysis, mainly due to accelerated vascular calcification. Having this in mind, it is crucial to investigate possible novel therapeutic choices to abrogate vascular calcification in these patients,” he explains. “Exogenous supplementation of vitamin K2 in dialysis patients has proven to be safe and well tolerated. This present study aims to elucidate whether increased vitamin K intake in peritoneal dialysis patients might be of cardiovascular benefit.”
