Interesting Link re HepC § Vitamin K-2 / Use for Other Posts

[cao]

http://denvernaturopathic.com/news/VitK2HVC.html

[stc1993]

I did may 24 week PCR test today.  I was clear at 12 week. half way home thank god.
My trouble is swallowing does anyone else have this problem?  Some times I have a mild sore throat & some times it feels like air is trapped in my throat that won't let me swallow.

Thanks

Monte

[lackalustre]

it seems throat problems are common on tx.   the meds cause dry mouth and nose.  hence dry throat. which could sure change the way you are used to swallowing.     my self,  i developed a pain down in my throat like around my thyroid area.  seems it was caused by acid reflux.  finally had an endoscopy and nothing wrong.  it took months to go away.   but most of this stuff clears after tx.

[Tallblonde]

That article is too important to miss....and I'm afraid some people won't take the time to look at it, so I'm pasting the article here:

Vitamin K-2 prevents liver cancer in Hepatitis C patients
September, 2004

Subject: People living with Hepatitis C are at high risk for developing liver cancer. Vitamin K-2 lowers the risk.

"People infected with Hepatitis C are more likely to develop liver cancer than other people. One recent study put their risk at 34.5 times that of uninfected people. It gets worse. If patients with hepatitis C also have liver cirrhosis, they are 118.5 times as likely to develop liver cancer. [1]

Vitamin K-2 may provide a means to reduce this risk. Last July, researchers in Osaka , Japan reported in JAMA that Vitamin K-2 reduces the risk of developing liver cancer by 90% in hepatitis patients. This was an accidental finding. The original goal of the study was to examine Vitamin K-2 as a way to prevent osteoporosis in women with viral liver cirrhosis. We've been sending out newsletters about this use of Vitamin K-2 for over a year now. The researchers also tracked how many women developed liver cancer during the study which ran from 1996-1998. Liver cancer was found in 2 of the 21 women given vitamin K2 and 9 of the 19 women in the control group. This would calculate to a risk of 0.20 for the vitamin K-2 versus the control group. The researchers analyzed their data and when all the other variables were factored in, they calculated an even greater benefit. They report that taking vitamin K-2 reduced the relative risk to 0.13 compared to the control group of patients not taking Vitamin K-2. Doses were comparable to those in other osteoporosis studies, 45 mg/day of vitamin K-2. [2]

Also in July, other Japanese researchers, these from Tokyo , published a very relevant paper in Hepatology. They studied the effects of vitamin K-2 in liver cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. They demonstrated that vitamin K-2 inhibits the growth and invasion of liver cancer cells through the activation of protein kinase A. In addition, administration of vitamin K-2 to mice inoculated with liver tumor cells reduced both tumor growth and body weight loss. [3]

By the way, the original Osaka study which questioned whether vitamin K-2 prevented osteoporosis in women with hepatitis C showed that it did, quite conclusively. Recall that the study went for two years. After the first year, the vitamin K-2 women had gained 0.1% in bone density. The control group though had lost 2.2%. By the second year the gap was wider; the Vitamin K-2 ladies had lost 0.5% of bone density since the study began. The controls without the vitamin K-2 supplementation had lost an average of 4.6%. [4] These numbers agree with other studies on Vitamin K-3. It appears to slow the loss of bone as followed by bone density measurements. Other studies report a large decrease in bone fractures with vitamin K-2 suggesting that it increases bone strength.

In the past we have suggested all hepatitis C patients take vitamin E daily to provide protection against the development of liver cancer. This remains a reasonable suggestion. A recent study suggests that this may provide some benefit but nowhere near the effect of vitamin K-2. In the vitamin E study published about a year ago, forty-four hepatitis C patients were treated with vitamin E over a five year period. Compared to a control group they had less liver cancer and lived longer. Yet the differences were slight and were not statistically significant. [5] What does this mean? It won't hurt to take Vitamin E and probably helps but the benefit isn't dramatic.

Selenium has also been researched as a way to decrease the risk of liver cancer in hepatitis C. A Taiwanese study showed an inverse correlation between serum selenium levels and development of liver cancer. That means the more selenium a person had floating in their blood, the less likely they were to develop liver cancer. [6] The protection was strongest in male smokers, a result consistent with other selenium studies.

The bottom line with is that if you have Hepatitis C you should be taking Vitamin K-2 at 45 mg/day. You should probably continue taking modest doses of Vitamin E. You should also take selenium, especially if you are male and smoke."

[Fisheress]

Great artical, had read it and printed it out yesterday before it was posted here. But where can one find vitamin K-2?  Not available in the local drug stores.  I already take the E and selium which are easy to purchase and would like to incorporate the K-2 into my vitamin regimen.  Any idea?  Thanks.......Fish

[cao]

A local naturopathic clinic had posted the article, so I wonder if perhaps a naturopath might be a good place to start re finding Vitamin K-2.  A clinic might at the very least know what direction to point you in.

[LvdByGod!]

remember.... get the ok from your drs...some stuff can cause the tx to not work right...or can be toxic...

[Moeymitt]

my Naturopath has me on a tincture of k-2 along with Vit E, Vit C, Selenium, Turmuric, etc. I purchased the VK-2 from the dispensary at the clinic so if you have access to a Natural Clinic or even a compound pharmacy you should be able to find it. a bottle goes a long way. I put 5drops in water each morning.