Cutting off the nose to spite the face As you know, vitamin K is one of my all-time favorite nutrients. The list of things it can do is as fascinating as it is long: How many other vitamins can alleviate morning sickness and prevent tooth decay? So anytime there's an article about this nutrient, I read it. But what I took away from the latest one had very little to do with the vitamin K that was supposed to be the focus of the story. Researchers in the Netherlands discovered that vitamin K can not only halt hardening of the arteries, but can actually reverse it. That's undoubtedly good news for the countless people out there fighting cardiovascular disease. But there was an undercurrent to this research that I found shocking and more than slightly insidious. To test vitamin K's effects, the researchers had to induce artery hardening in the experimental animals. They did so with the drug warfarin. Now, all animal-rights arguments aside, this methodology raises concerns of even larger proportions. Warfarin is an extremely common blood-thinning drug that is prescribed with the intent of preventing the blood clots that can cause heart attacks and strokes. Am I the only one that sees the horrible irony here? What exactly is the point of preventing a heart attack if you're destroying your arteries in the process? Heart disease is heart disease, whether it manifests as an attack or a gradual hardening of the arteries your body depends on to transport blood through your system. And the vitamin that appears to combat the destruction warfarin can cause is the first one that you're cautioned NOT to take when you're on this drug. The whole thing is maddening -- and the madness extends to the very system producing this terrible conundrum: Big Pharma. The best thing you can do is stay away from it altogether. Refer back to the article "Fish oil and 33 other natural secrets to tackle all your heart's risks" from the March 2003 issue of Nutrition & Healing. You'll find natural, common-sense ways to thin the blood that won't leave even more destruction in their wake. Nutrition & Healing subscribers can download this issue for free by visiting www.wrightnewsletter.com and logging on by entering the username and password listed on page 8 of your most recent issue.
What is...arterial calcification?
Arterial calcification is hardening of the arteries caused by build up of plaque on artery walls.
Nutrition & Healing Source:
"Vitamin K may reverse artery hardening, suggests study," NutraIngredients.com Europe, 11/12/06
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