It goes without saying that wrinkling is associated with aging and is an indicator of cellular aging as well. Thus it is hardly good news. Now we have evidence that this effect is driven by a deficiency of the K2 vitamin in the diet. That leads directly to obvious food based therapies and we can be sure that supplements will soon follow.
Natto
is a little hard to take, but alternatives will not be hard find.
Fermented soy can likely be blended with kimchee or raw sauerkraut
and this happens to be my breakfast of choice these days alongside a
poached kipper and a piece of black rye bread. My Poincare is that a
vitamin and nutrient rich meal can be produced as a welcome breakfast
meal.
Sauerkraut
and slices of Gouda may also work well also.
Slowly
we are learning to super charge our diets to minimize deterioration.
If I have learned anything recently it is that while raw vegetables
are wonderful, they are often difficult to eat. Fermented raw
vegetables changes all that. Root vegetables respond particularly
well.
The Vitamin Deficiency That is Written All Over Your Face
Are
wrinkles an inevitable fact of aging or could laugh lines and crow’s
feet potentially indicate a vitamin deficiency or even a more serious
underlying health issue?
In
2011, researchers
presented findings at
a meeting of the Endocrine Society in Boston that revealed that women
in their 40′s and 50′s who have extensive skin wrinkling are much
more likely than their peers to have low bone mass.
Researchers
noted the relationship between wrinkles and bone density in every
single bone tested which included hip, heel, and lumbar (spine). In
addition, this relationship existed regardless of body fat percentage
and age.
It
is known that Japanese women have fewer wrinkles and less skin
sagging that women of the same age living in North America. These two
groups of women vary greatly in diet and lifestyle, however.
Even
when Japanese women living in Tokyo were compared with women from the
Asian cities of Shanghai and Bangok, however, they showed the least
visible signs of aging.
Diet
and lifestyle factors for these three Asian groups of women are
comparable except for one notable exception: the consumption
of natto in Japan.
Tokyo
residents frequently enjoy natto, a strong smelling food
traditionally made from fermented soybeans for breakfast.
Natto is loaded with menaquinone, Vitamin K2, and blood samples of
the Tokyo women revealed high circulating levels of this fat soluble
vitamin.
Further
research which bolsters the notion that getting plenty of
anti-wrinkle vitamin K2 in the diet makes for smoother facial
features is found in the research of Korean scientists and
was published in the journal Nephrology in
2008.
The
rate at which the kidneys are able to filter the blood is an
important measure of overall kidney function. Researchers
found that reduced renal filtration rate was associated with
increased facial wrinkling.
What
does decreased kidney filtration rate predict?
You
guessed it – Vitamin K2 deficiency, according to American research
published the year after the Korean study.
Testing
has been limited so far on the true extent of Vitamin K2 deficiency
in the western world, but so far, of those tested, 90%
tested deficient in this critical nutrient.
Avoid the Vitamin Deficiency That Causes Wrinkles With These Foods
If
you want to avoid a vitamin deficiency of K2, know that it is an
elusive nutrient and extremely difficult to obtain with a modern
diet. The highest sources of K2 are natto (fermented
soybeans), goose liver, certain cheeses and animal fats like egg
yolk, butter and lard which must come
from grassfed animals.
Natto
contains a whopping 1,103 mcg of K2 per 3 1/2 ounce portion which
blows away every other food by a country mile.
The
second highest food in Vitamin K2 is goose liver pate which has 369
mcg per 3 1/2 ounce portion. While delicious and wonderful to
eat, goose liver pate is very hard to find in most places. It
is also a very high end, gourmet food which makes the price out of
reach for most.
Rounding
out the top 3 foods highest in Vitamin K2 is none other than the
humble Gouda
cheese,
which boasts 75 mcg per 3 1/2 ounce serving! This compares to
pastured egg yolks and butter, which each have about 15 mcg of K2 per
3 1/2 ounce portion.
How
much of these K2 containing foods should you eat to avoid a vitamin
deficiency of this critical nutrient? That part gets murky as the
official recommended daily intake (RDI) of Vitamin K doesn’t
distinguish between K1 and K2 despite their very different uses in
the body. The RDI for Vitamin K is only determined by the liver’s
requirement for normal blood clotting factors, not the K2 needed for
optimal bone and kidney health and wrinkle free skin. So, getting
enough K1 in the diet via leafy greens could still mean a serious
vitamin deficiency of K2.
The
good
news is
that there is no
known toxicity of Vitamin K2,
so eating generously of Vitamin
K2 rich foods as practiced by Traditional Societies and
even potentially taking a supplement to
avoid a vitamin deficiency is considered wise by Dr. Kate
Rheaume-Bleue, ND, author of Vitamin
K2 and the Calcium Paradox.
UPDATE
Recent
research has shown that an Aboriginal sacred food is extremely high
in vitamin K2, so high in fact that it is nearly as high as goose
liver pate! Click
here for
more information on this exciting discovery and where to source
authentic emu oil from the genetically pure strain of birds that
produce this nutrient dense fat
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