Scientists identify link between higher vitamin K intake and lower bone fracture risk late in life

Vitamin K1 can help reduce the risk of fractures in older populations

Breaking bones can be life-changing events, especially as we age, when hip fractures can become particularly damaging and result in disability, compromised independence and a higher mortality risk.

But research from Edith Cowan University’s Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute in Australia has revealed that there may be something you can do to help reduce your risk of fractures later in life.

In collaboration with the University of Western Australia, the study looked at the relationship between fracture-related hospitalisations and vitamin K1 intake in almost 1400 older Australian women over a 14.5-year period from the Perth Longitudinal Study of Aging Women.

It was found that women who ate more than 100 micrograms of vitamin K1, equivalent to about 125g of dark leafy vegetables, or one-to-two serves of vegetables, were 31 per cent less likely to have any fracture compared to participants who consumed less than 60 micrograms per day, which is the current vitamin K adequate intake guideline in Australia for women.

There were even more positive results regarding hip fractures, with those who ate the most vitamin K1 cutting their risk of hospitalisation almost in half (49 per cent).

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