Our competition

K2VITAL

THE BACKGROUND

K2Vital is a brand of Balchem Corporation. The product is of synthetic origin. Side chain is made in India, final synthesis and purification is made in tech-hub building of University of Oslo. Further dilution is made in third party locations including Ballerup (BASF).
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THE FEATURES

K2Vital is pure MK-7, it lacks MK-6 impurity. According to our testing it is marginally less pure to Pharmaquinone.

The main advantage of K2Vital is a broad content support for brand managers that comes with a serious premium.

Other unique part of their offer is DELTA formulation, which uses BASF patent to protect vitamin K2 in some scenarios to some extent.
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THE CLINICALS

K2VITAL has sponsored only one clinical (human) study:
‍Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial to Investigate Effects of Vitamin K2 in COVID-19


and provided Delta formulated tablets for this study:
‍Vitamin K2 and D in Patients With Aortic Valve Calcification: A Randomized Double-Blinded Clinical Trial but plan more studies in the future.

vitaMK7

THE BACKGROUND

vitaMK7 is a brand operated by Gnosis Spa, Italy. It used to be a brand of of premium vitamin K2 produced by bacterial strain Bacillus Subtilis Natto with use of soya peptide feed and purified without use of chemical solvents and diluted in olive oil. After merger with Nattopharma ASA, MenaQ7 products were added under vitaMK7 umbrella creating rather confusing portfolio, which is now marketed as a matrix solution including soya based,  chickpea based and synthetic products and formulations.
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THE FEATURES

vitaMK7 soya based product is the purest vitamin K2 produced in bacterial process. It cannot match purity of synthetic MK-7 mainly due to presence of MK-6 impurity and its isomers. The distinction - absence of solvents in the process - comes with a serious premium.

THE CLINICALS

Gnosis have not been involved in a single clinical trial, however after merger with Nattopharma (MenaQ7) they gained the access to a "scientific legacy" of MenaQ7. Although Nattopharma never sponsored a published clinical study, they provided different MenaQ7 products (soya, chickpea, synthetic) as free samples for various studies, including to those made in Maastricht University. The positive  study results were then converted to the marketing content of the brand.

MenaquinGold

THE BACKGROUND

MenaquinGold is an Indian brand of vitamin K2 made by Synergia Private Limited in Mumbai. It has been acquired by Danish corporation Novozymes OneHealth.

THE FEATURES

The product is produced in biotech process by strain  Bacillus licheniformis and chickpeas feed, but according to our tests, it lacks purity of soya based VitaMK7 product. Product is insignificantly cheaper, but in this case, chemical solvents are not excluded from the proces.

The main advantage of the product is soy-free origin, however it is a meaningless advantage as VitaMK7 does not contain soya proteins due to CO2 purification process.
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THE CLINICALS

The Indian producer has made some clinical studies in India, however they never sponsored or provided samples to a western research centre.

Vitamin K2 manufacturers from China and India

THE BACKGROUND

Various Chinese and Indian suppliers compete for the lower segment of vitamin K2 market. Our regular competitor sampling programme shows that many cheap Vitamin K2 does not meet EU Novel Foods criteria.

THE FEATURES

Chinese biotech samples have different impurity profile to the EU approved reference products. The levels of All-trans MK-7 vary from very low to max 93,7%, also due to abnormally high MK-6 content.
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Asian origin synthetic K2 carry various peaks from cursory (hasty) organic chemistry or has unclear IP ownership status.
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THE ETHICALS

Considering 100 mcg as a daily dose, it is highly unfair to offer unaware consumers up to 20 mcg per day of unknown substances. Unfortunately the clients for the cheap vitamin K2 always forget to label their products correctly.