Osteoporosis is a disease that often occurs in postmenopausal women. The purpose of this study was to examine the positive effects of Cheongukjang powder containing menaquinone-7 (MK-7) on bone health circulation in postmenopausal women. Fifty-six postmenopausal women were recruited into a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial. The participants were randomly assigned into two groups. For 12 weeks, one group received 800 μg MK-7 in the form of Cheongukjang packs (CMK-7), and the other group received the same amount of identical-looking placebo packs containing barley meal for 12 weeks. Femoral bone mineral density (BMD), bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (ALP), deoxypyridinoline (DPD), osteocalcin (OSC), serum Ca, and serum P were measured at baseline (0 weeks) and 12 weeks. After 12 weeks in the CMK-7 group, it was found that BMD, serum Ca, and serum P had increased above the baseline (p<0.0001, p=0.0028, p<0.0001), whereas bone-specific ALP, DPD, and OSC had decreased below the baseline (p=0.0003, p<0.0001, p<0.0001). Therefore, MK-7 taken as Cheongukjang is expected to prevent osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

Background. Vitamin K (VK) is a fat-soluble vitamin and is known to have anticancer activity in various cancer cell lines. However, there is no report on the anticancer effect of VK2 in mucoepidermoid carcinoma cells. Methods. The effects of VK2 on anti-proliferative and apoptotic activity were recognized by the trypan blue exclusion assay, 4'-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining and Western blot analysis. Results. The results showed that VK2 decreased cell viability and induced apoptotic programmed cell death in MC3 cells evidenced by the cleavages of caspase3 and PARP. VK2 treatment clearly increased Bak and truncated Bid (t-Bid) compared with the control treatment whereas it did not alter other Bcl-2 family members. Conclusions. Overall, our results suggest that VK2 can be a good apoptotic inducer accompanied by the increase in Bak and Bid protein. VK2 may be a potent target of anticancer drug candidate for the treatment of oral cancer.