Best Calcium Supplement?

@daisy17 I ordered AOR Peak K2 last night and used a 20% off code. I'm going to start with taking one along with my K2 MK7, then go to two then three after I see that I tolerate it well.

@loplady Thanks for the info! I wish I knew if it was truly beneficial to split the doses throughout the day, as I've found conflicting info on that. The smaller dose tablets are usually more expensive, sometimes twice as much, than one daily dose.

@daisy17 I haven't found anything that states you can take it in one dose but I did get this response from NBI, Dr. John Neustadt's company that sells the product in 22.5mg tablets. "The half-life of MK4 is about two hours. Twenty years ago, Dr. Neustadt calculated whether he could achieve a high enough serum concentration by dosing 22.5 mg of MK4 twice daily instead of 15 mg three times a day. He understood that compliance can be an issue with people taking it three times daily, so he aimed to see if he could make it easier for people to stick with his products long-term while still getting results. He calculated that a steady-state serum concentration achievable by taking 22.5 mg twice daily would be sufficient. That's why he designed Osteo-K, Osteo-K Minis, and Osteo-MK4 to be taken twice daily. Over two decades, he has consistently seen improvements in bone mineral density test results, which convinces him that his calculations and judgment were correct. " If his products weren't so expensive, I'd go that route. I haven't found another brand that has 22.5 mg.

@loplady Someone pointed out to me that they found an MK-4 product on Amazon that comes in 15mg doses: AOR Peak K2 Vitamin K2 MK-4, 90 Vegan Capsules. Three capsules daily would equal 45mg. It's pricy tho, $44 for a month's supply.

I intend to do some research on cheaper alternatives for lower dose MK-4, and whether it's truly beneficial to take it at two or three lower doses a day vs one capsule of 45mg.

I have shared these in other discussions focused on vitamin K and osteoporosis and would like to share them here as they may be helpful:

"Vitamin K and Osteoporosis"
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7760385/

Here are a few key conclusions:

"Several points of experimental evidence seem to outline that vitamin K play an important role for bone health. More evidence is needed about the effects of vitamin K supplementation at physiological and pharmacological doses and what the required dose of vitamin K is to ensure bone and vascular health."

A more recent study "indicated that vitamin K yielded improvements in lumbar spine BMD, but did not have a statistically significant effect on femoral neck BMD, total hip BMD, ultra distal radius BMD, or femoral Ward’s triangle BMD based on pooled analysis."

"Effects of vitamin K supplementation on bone mineral density at different sites and bone metabolism in the middle-aged and elderly population"
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11631259/

You may also find this article helpful as well as there is a section dedicated to which supplements can help:

"Osteoporosis treatment: Medications can help"
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/osteoporosis/in-depth/osteoporosis-treatment/art-20046869

@daisy17 That was me who bought the AOR Peak 2. I bought them from Iherb and paid $35 with a discount code.

@loplady Thanks! I couldn't remember.

@daisy17 Others have mentioned success in dividing other powder capsules and I have done that with supplements etc that the exact dosage seems not so important. I considered getting the same 45mg capsules that you got and opening the capsules to make two approx 22.5mg doses as it is the best price per mg. I still may do that in the future.

But I decided to start with taking only 16 mg per day in 2 doses. One, the AOR Peak K2 15mg of MK4, and the other being Life Extension Super K that has 1mg of MK4 and 180micrograms of MK7.

See below where I asked for the AI to make a table of cost per mg for various products at full price. If I am gong to stay on Vitamin K2 for life then cost is a factor!

@JustinMcClanahan Thanks for the links Justin! The second article is helpful at highlighting the challenges of figuring this all out.

The dosage ranges in the studies in your second link ranged from 9.4 mcg (MiCroGrams) to 45 mg (MilliGrams) a difference of 4787 times or 478,700%.

The durations ranged from 2 weeks to 4 years. Also some of the included studies used K1 instead of K2. The meta-study then did do subgroups analysis, but they never appear to have a subgroup with the full Japanese prescription protocol of 45mg/day of MK4 in 3 doses.

Here is a list of research studies assembled by Dr. John Neustadt that include only MK4 and only higher doses, mostly 45mg, but some lower. I do not like having to refer to links from commercial sites, but the available general research papers are very hard to sort out. These all appear to show benefits of MK4 in higher doses.
https://nbihealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Osteoporosis-Grow-Stronger-Bones_v201123.pdf
I am still figuring out exactly what I am going to do about Vitamin K2, esp MK4. But the potential lowering of fracture risk vs cost & risk of taking more MK4 is pointing me towards larger (5 to 45mg) of this supplement.