Vitamin K Linked to Stronger Bones for Adolescents

An adolescent's vitamin K status could have important long-term implications on bone health, and a better status may protect them from osteoporosis later in life, suggests a new study. An improved status of the vitamin was found to improve bone mineral content and bone mass in the whole body, according to the study with 307 healthy children with an average age of 11.2 published in the British Journal of Nutrition.

Women are four times more likely to develop osteoporosis than men and about 35% of a mature adult's peak bone mass is built-up during puberty. Osteocalcin is a vitamin K-dependent protein and is essential for the body to utilize calcium in bone tissue. Without adequate vitamin K, the osteocalcin remains inactive, and thus not effective.