Vitamin K2 could benefit Parkinson's disease patients

An article published on May 11, 2012 in the journal Science reports the outcome of research that suggests that the administration of vitamin K2 could reverse mitochondrial defects responsible for the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Mitochondria are organelles within the cells that function as power plants to provide energy for the cells' operation. Energy is generated via the transporting of electrons—a process that is disrupted in Parkinson's disease. This loss of energy production results in cell death, which interferes with communication between cells known as neurons, leading to such characteristic symptoms as tremors, muscle stiffness and lack of movement. 

In their introduction to the article, neuroscientist Patrik Verstreken of the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology and his colleagues at Northern Illinois University note that "Vitamin K2 is best known as a cofactor in blood coagulation, but in bacteria it is a membrane-bound electron carrier. Whether vitamin K2 exerts a similar carrier function in eukaryotic cells is unknown." 

For their research, the team used fruitflies that were genetically modified to have defects found in human Parkinson's disease patients that lead to decreased mitochondrial activity. While flies with mutated PINK1 or Parkin were flightless due to defects in their mitochondria, those that received vitamin K2 were better able to fly due to improved electron transport within the mitochondria that led to more energy being produced--a process similar to that elicited by ubiquinone. "Thus, mitochondrial dysfunction was rescued by vitamin K2 that serves as a mitochondrial electron carrier, helping to maintain normal ATP production," the authors conclude.

"It appears from our research that administering vitamin K2 could possibly help patients with Parkinson's," Dr Verstreken remarked. "However, more work needs to be done to understand this better." 

  

Source: http://www.lef.org

Supplement Suggestions...

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Buckwheat sprouts can be used in salads, as a rice raw-substitute, and as a breakfast cereal over chopped fruit and soaked nuts with Kefir or yogurt. Kefir can also be made out of raw seed or nut milks. ANTACIDS: Apple, Caraway, Catnip, Cloves, Parsley, Peppermint, Lemon balm, yucca root. PROBIOTICS: Friendly intestinal bacteria are one of the body's first lines of immune defense. The type of bacteria that inhabit the colon depends not only on the kind of food digested but also on the over all health and emotional state. Our health is dependent on the quantity and quality of the bacterial activity in both our soil and our intestines and these microbes are fed by vital organic material not from chemical fertilizers and inorganic vitamins and minerals. SKIN: Exfoliant--ground rolled oats; chemical exfoliant--papaya juice; face pack and lymphatic gland pack--wheat grass juice mixed with bentonite clay and spirulina. Crude lanolin is the most effective skin treatment out there. I starting using it on my chapped feet, and it was the only thing that worked. But it has to be the sticky yellowish crude stuff, you don't want the white refined version that is mixed with mineral oil and who knows what.

Foods Containing B17 (Nitrilosides)

Vitamin B17 appears in abundance in untamed nature. Because B17 is bitter to the taste, in man's attempt to improve tastes and flavors for his own pleasure, he has eliminated bitter substances like B17 by selection and cross-breeding. It can be stated as a general rule that many of the foods that have been domesticated still contain the vitamin B17 in that part not eaten by modem man, such as the seeds in apricots. Listed below is an evaluation of some of the more common foods. Keep in mind that these are averages only and that specimens vary widely depending on variety, locale, soil, and climate.

Fruits Range*
blackberry, domestic low
blackberry, wild high
boysenberry med.
choke cherry high
wild crabapple high
market cranberry low
Swedish (lignon) cranberry high
currant med.
elderberry med. to high
gooseberry. med.
huckleberry med.
loganberry med.
mulberry med.
quince med.
raspberry med.

Seeds Range*
apple seeds high
apricot seed high
buckwheat med.
cherry seed high
flax med.
millet med.
nectarine seed high
peach seed high
pear seeds high
plum seed high
prune seed high
squash seeds med.

Beans Range*
black low
black-eyed peas low
fava high
garbanzo low to med.
green pea low
kidney low to med.
lentils med.
lima, U.S. low
lima, Burma med.
mung med. to high
shell low

Nuts (all raw) Range*
bitter almond high
cashew low
macadamia med. to high

Sprouts Range*
alfalfa med.
bamboo high
fava med.
garbanzo med.
mung med.

Leaves Range*
alfalfa high
beet tops low
eucalyptus high
spinach low
water cress low

Tubers Range*
cassava high
sweet potato low
yams low

Range*

High:  above 500 mgs. nitriloside per 100 grams food

Medium:  above 100 mgs. per 100 grams food

Low:  below 100 mgs. per 100 grams food