Adulthood obesity is positively associated with adipose tissue concentrations of vitamin K and inversely associated with circulating indicators of vitamin K status in men and women

Abstract

Increased adiposity is associated with increased storage of several fat-soluble nutrients. However, the extent to which vitamin K is stored in fat and the association between vitamin K status and adiposity are unknown. Our objectives in this study were to determine whether vitamin K is stored in human adipose tissue and the association between vitamin K status and body fat in older men and women. In study A, the vitamin K concentration of subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue was quantified in samples taken from 16 gastric bypass patients [13 women, 3 men, age 40 +/- 10 y (mean +/- SD)] using HPLC. In study B, cross-sectional associations between percent body fat (%BF) and circulating measures of vitamin K status were examined in 260 women and 183 men [age = 68 +/- 5 y]. The phylloquinone (K(1)) concentrations in subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue were 148.2 +/- 71.8 and 175 +/- 112 nmol/kg, respectively, which is higher than the reported concentrations of other organs known to store vitamin K. There was an inverse association between %BF and plasma K(1) in women (P-trend < 0.001). Higher %BF was associated with greater circulating concentrations of uncarboxylated prothrombin, indicative of lower hepatic utilization of vitamin K in both men (P-trend = 0.02) and women (P-trend = 0.002) but not with the percentage of undercarboxylated osteocalcin. Adipose tissue contained high concentrations of vitamin K, and increased adiposity was associated with poorer vitamin K status in older adults. Additional studies are needed to further explore the relationships among body fat, storage of vitamin K in adipose tissue, and implications for vitamin K status and function.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00183001.

Figures

FIGURE 1

Variability of K1 concentrations in adipose tissue in 4 patients from Study A. Five contiguous visceral adipose tissue samples were analyzed per patient. Each data point is represented by a circle. When fewer than 5 points are shown, there was overlap of at least 2 points. The median and interquartile ranges are represented by the box and the whiskers represent the minimum and maximum measures for each patient.