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Vitamin K antagonists
medication Under reviewVitamin K antagonists are a class of drugs, not a dietary supplement, that reduce blood clotting by blocking vitamin K recycling in the body. This lowers the activation of vitamin K-dependent clotting factors and is the basis for medications such as warfarin and phenprocoumon. In practice, they are used to prevent and treat blood clots in conditions where anticoagulation is needed. Because they interfere with vitamin K biology, their effects are strongly influenced by dietary vitamin K intake and by interactions with vitamin K-containing supplements and foods. In healthy human studies, vitamin K antagonists clearly alter coagulation markers and vitamin K status, and they can also affect measures related to thrombosis and vascular biology. However, this is a pharmaceutical drug class rather than a health supplement, so the usual supplement-oriented use cases do not apply.
Research summary
The human evidence shows that vitamin K antagonists reliably produce anticoagulant effects and change biomarkers of vitamin K status in healthy volunteers. Studies in healthy subjects demonstrate that warfarin and related agents increase undercarboxylated vitamin K-dependent proteins, and ex vivo work shows reduced thrombus formation under anticoagulated conditions. Research also shows that vitamin K intake can influence anticoagulant stability, although moderate dietary vitamin K supplementation does not necessarily cause large INR changes in healthy subjects who are already anticoagulated. Separate observational work in populations using vitamin K antagonists has linked their use with less favorable vascular and cardiac phenotypes, but those data are not from healthy subjects and therefore should be interpreted cautiously for this request.
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Assessment of vitamin K status in human subjects administered 'minidose' warfarin
Booth SL, Martini L, Peterson JW, et al.
Research (1 study)
Assessment of vitamin K status in human subjects administered 'minidose' warfarin
Booth SL, Martini L, Peterson JW, et al.
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