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Health News Archive 489 - Blood
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Vitamin K Improves Anticoagulation Control

Vitamin K improved anticoagulation stability for patients taking warfarin. Daily supplements of vitamin K could help to control anticoagulation in over half the people taking the blood thinning medication warfarin, scientists from the UK have reported.

Because vitamin K is known to participate in blood clotting, people taking blood thinners like warfarin are usually recommended to avoid supplementation with the vitamin. However, researchers from Newcastle University and the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle, have built on previous research that reported that unstable control of anti-coagulation is linked to low vitamin K intake (Thrombosis & Haemostasis, Vol. 93, pp. 872-875).

In a double blind, randomized study published in the Blood First Edition Paper, 70 patients treated with warfarin and having unstable anticoagulant control received a 150 µg/d oral vitamin K or placebo for six months. Stability of anticoagulation was measured and compared to measurements taken six months immediately prior to the study.

Anticoagulation control improved in 33 out of 35 patients receiving vitamin K supplementation and, of these, 19 fulfilled criteria for having stable control of anticoagulation. Of 33 patients, only 24 receiving placebo demonstrated some degree of improvement, with only seven of these fulfilling the criteria for having stable control.

Researchers concluded concomitant supplementation of vitamin K, can significantly improve anticoagulation control in patients with unexplained instability of response to warfarin.  Lead researcher Farhad Kamali said: "There is evidence to suggest that vitamin K is not only essential for the production of functionally active clotting proteins required for normal haemostasis but it is also needed for bone mineralisation and vascular health."

Source: E. Sconce, P. Avery, H. Wynne, and F. Kamali; Vitamin K supplementation can improve stability of anticoagulation for patients with unexplained variability in response to warfarin; Blood First Edition Paper Epub online, Nov. 16, 2006

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