Does vitamin K2 lower estrogen?
Not in anything Dr. Martin teaches. There are lab papers online on K2 and estrogen, but he never makes that claim. What he does is put K2 and estrogen in the same answer, again and again, because both decide where calcium goes in a woman's body.
The clearest example came from a listener who asked whether K2 could fix calcium deposits in her breast. His first words were that it will help. Then he explained why.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 614Calcium belongs in your bones. If it's in your breast tissue, it's usually because you got too much estrogen. So vitamin K2, yes. I like vitamin K2.
Estrogen is why the calcium is in the wrong place. K2 moves it to the right place. Two jobs, one problem.
What vitamin K2 actually does
Dr. Martin describes K2 the same way every time. It is the traffic director for calcium. You eat calcium in food, and K2 makes sure it goes to bone and teeth instead of staying in your bloodstream.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 629The nice thing is when you eat cheese, especially in butter, you've got vitamin K2. What does K2 do? It takes the calcium and puts it in your bones where it belongs.
That is why he is not a fan of calcium pills. In his view a calcium supplement does not get to the bone. It sits in the blood, and calcium in the blood is the last thing he wants for you.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1173You don't need calcium. You need vitamin K2 and eat your calcium. Don't take it as a supplement.
Nature packed the two together: the cheese and butter that carry calcium carry K2. He also puts K2 in his vitamin D, more on that in vitamin D for women over 60.
K2, estrogen and calcium in breast tissue
This is where the two meet most often on his show, and his answer has two halves.
The first half is estrogen. When a listener told him her mammogram showed new and increased calcification, he told her to keep three hormones down: estrogen, insulin and cortisol. He calls estrogen and insulin the two growth hormones.
The second half is K2. In the same answer he warned that a diet built on vegetables high in oxalates, like spinach, can add to calcium where it does not belong, and then went straight to food.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1035And you need K2. And K2 is found in eggs, meat and cheese. Butter.
Back in episode 614, after telling the listener K2 would help, he did not stop at K2. He told her to deal with the estrogen too.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 614You want to get your estrogen down, dim it out, hormonal formula. Knock that estrogen down.
So K2 is not his estrogen tool. DIM and his hormonal formula are. K2 handles the calcium. For the bigger picture on why he worries about too much estrogen later in life, see what estrogen dominance means in a woman over 60.
Vitamin K2, estrogen and bones after menopause
Most articles on this search are about bone loss when estrogen falls at menopause. Dr. Martin does not think falling estrogen is the main problem.
A listener in menopause told him her estrogen was dropping, her bones and joints ached, and she was already taking vitamin D3 and K2, lifting weights and taking high DHA. He liked all of it. Then he added one thing, and explained why.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1538I'm a balancer of hormones and I can tell you my experience is it's never a problem with estrogen going down. The problem is progesterone and estrogen being balanced when that's out of balance.
In episode 924 he made the same link for osteoporosis. He said a lot of women suffer from it because they have estrogen dominance compared to their progesterone. He told that listener to skip calcium, take vitamin D with K2, and get strong, because muscle pulling on bone tells the body to build more. Then he added that she might want to dim out her estrogen, depending on her hormonal symptoms.
Asked about a friend with osteoporosis, he said he knows estrogen goes down, but that is not it. It is muscle. Weights or bands, plus eggs, meat and cheese for the K2 and protein. He goes deeper on this in what is weakening the bone in women over 60.
K1 vs K2 and blood thinners
A listener on a blood thinner thought she could not take his vitamin D because of the vitamin K. He said she was mixing up K1, which comes mostly from greens like spinach, with K2, the bone builder in his vitamin D. On a blood thinner, still check with your own doctor first.
Do K2 foods raise estrogen?
The best K2 foods in his book are cheese and butter, and some women worry dairy will push their estrogen up. A listener with estrogen receptive breast cancer asked him exactly that about eggs and cheese. He said no, just the opposite, and pointed somewhere else.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 713What will raise your estrogens? All those chemicals out there.
He means the preservatives and other chemicals your body mistakes for estrogen, which he calls xenoestrogens. Cheese, in the same answer, is a good food with K2, protein and healthy fat.
Soy is where K2 and estrogen cross in the other direction. He is not a fan of ordinary soy.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1682I don't like soy on its own because what does it do? It elevates your estrogen. It's a xenoestrogen soy.
Fermented soy is different, he says. It has more nutrients and can even give you some K2. Still, with hormone trouble he would be careful. His everyday K2 foods remain the ones in the eggs, meat and cheese diet.
How Dr. Martin uses K2 and estrogen support together
- For the calcium: eat your K2 in butter, cheese and eggs, and take vitamin D with K2. Skip the calcium pill.
- For the estrogen: keep it in balance with progesterone, cut down your exposure to xenoestrogens, and use DIM or his hormonal formula to dim out the extra.
- For the bone: build muscle. Weights or bands.
Even with K2 in his own vitamin D, he would rather you got most of it from your plate.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1688I don't talk about supplementing as much with K2. Not that I don't because we actually supplement in our vitamin D with K2. But you know how much I love K2, but I want you to eat it.
Past menopause and think the estrogen half is not for you? He told a postmenopausal listener that estrogen is everywhere, and you might think you are low when you are not.
Common questions
Does vitamin K2 lower estrogen?
Dr. Martin does not say it does. He uses K2 to move calcium into bone and uses DIM or his hormonal formula when he wants estrogen brought down.
Does vitamin K2 increase estrogen?
He never says so either. The things he says raise estrogen are xenoestrogens like plastics, pesticides and plain soy, not K2 foods like cheese and butter.
Can vitamin K2 help breast calcification?
He says it will help, because K2 takes calcium to bone. He also says calcium in breast tissue is usually down to too much estrogen, so he works on that too.
Should I take vitamin D3 and K2 during menopause?
He likes vitamin D with K2 at any age. For menopause he adds balancing estrogen with progesterone, eating eggs, meat and cheese, and lifting weights.
What foods have vitamin K2?
Butter, cheese and eggs are his top picks, with cheese curds named the best. He says fermented soy gives you some too.
Working on the estrogen half?
K2 handles the calcium. For the estrogen, Dr. Martin reaches for his hormonal formula. Today it is called Estrogen Balance Formula, formerly Hormonal Support Formula, made to support healthy estrogen balance and help your body process estrogen the way it should.
60-day money-back guarantee. Keep eating your K2 alongside it.
