American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on November 15, 2007
American Journal of Epidemiology 2008 167(3):313-320; doi:10.1093/aje/kwm306
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ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS |
Vitamin K and Vitamin D Status: Associations with Inflammatory Markers in the Framingham Offspring Study
1 Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, MA
2 Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, MA
3 Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Boston University, Boston, MA
4 Framingham Heart Study, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Framingham, MA
5 Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, MA
6 Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, Boston University Medical Center, Boston, MA
7 Cardiology and Preventive Medicine Sections, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Boston University, Boston, MA
8 Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, MA
Correspondence to Dr. Sarah L. Booth, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, 711 Washington St., Boston, MA 02111 (e-mail: sarah.booth{at}tufts.edu).
Received for publication May 8, 2007. Accepted for publication September 21, 2007.
In vitro data suggest protective roles for vitamins K and D in inflammation. To examine associations between vitamins K and D and inflammation in vivo, the authors used multiple linear regression analyses, adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, triglyceride concentrations, use of aspirin, use of lipid-lowering medication, season, menopausal status, and hormone replacement therapy. Participants were from the Framingham Offspring Study (1997–2001; n = 1,381; mean age = 59 years; 52% women). Vitamin K status, measured by plasma phylloquinone concentration and phylloquinone intake, was inversely associated with circulating inflammatory markers as a group and with several individual inflammatory biomarkers (p < 0.01). Percentage of undercarboxylated osteocalcin, a functional measure of vitamin K status, was not associated with overall inflammation but was associated with C-reactive protein (p < 0.01). Although plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D was inversely associated with urinary isoprostane concentration, an indicator of oxidative stress (p < 0.01), overall associations between vitamin D status and inflammation were inconsistent. The observation that high vitamin K status was associated with lower concentrations of inflammatory markers suggests that a possible protective role for vitamin K in inflammation merits further investigation.
inflammation; vitamin D; vitamin K
Abbreviations: CV, coefficient of variation; SD, standard deviation