Vitamin K and vascular calcifications

The role of vitamin K in the synthesis of some coagulation factors is well known. The implication of vitamin K in vascular health was demonstrated in many surveys and studies conducted over the past years on the vitamin K-dependent proteins non-involved in coagulation processes. The vitamin K-dependent matrix Gla protein is a potent inhibitor of the arterial calcification, and may become a non-invasive biochemical marker for vascular calcification. Vitamin K-2 is considered to be more important for vascular system, if compared to vitamin K-1. This paper is reviewing the data from recent literature on the involvement of vitamin K and vitamin K-dependent proteins in cardiovascular health.