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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition, Psychology and Brain Health
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1396707
This article is part of the Research Topic Unlocking the Nexus of Bioactive Components, Nutrition, and Nutrigenomics in Age-Related Disorders View all 8 articles

Dietary vitamin K intake is associated with decreased neurofilament light chain among middle-aged and older adults from the NHANES

Provisionally accepted
Jing Luo Jing Luo 1Song Lin Song Lin 2*
  • 1 School of Rehabilitation, Jiangsu College of Nursing, Huai'an, China
  • 2 Department of Clinical Nutrition, The Affiliated Huaian NO.1 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huaian, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: Neurofilament-light chain (NfL) is associated with neurodegenerative diseases, which are increasingly prevalent with aging. Vitamin K has been shown a neuroprotective effect. Therefore, we aimed to explore the potential relationship between dietary vitamin K intake and serum NfL. Methods: This study was conducted on the 2013–2014 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a multi-site population-based study of the US general population. Serum NfL level was measured using a highly sensitive immunoassay. Dietary vitamin K intake was estimated from two-day dietary recall interviews, and its relationship with NfL was determined using linear regression models. Results: The study included a total of 1533 participants with a median age of 46 years, comprising 801 women (52.2%) and 732 men (47.8%). The median dietary intake of vitamin K was 81.6 µg/d, and the median serum NfL was 12 pg/ml. After adjusting for potential confounding factors in the full model, individuals with higher dietary vitamin K intake had lower serum NfL levels (Q4 vs Q1, β = −4.92, 95%CI: −7.66, −2.19, P = 0.002). A non-linear negative dose-response association is found between dietary vitamin K intake and serum NfL levels (P for non-linearity = 0.008); this association reaches a plateau when the dietary vitamin K intake is higher than 200 µg/d. According to the results of stratified analysis, the relationship between dietary vitamin K intake and serum NfL levels was stronger in the population of middle-aged and older adults. Conclusion: The present study suggested a negative association between dietary vitamin K intake and serum NfL levels in the general US population, especially in middle-aged and older adults. This study might offer a novel nutritional idea for the primary prevention and mechanism exploration of neurodegenerative diseases.

    Keywords: Vitamin K, Neurofilament, Neurodegenerative Diseases, NHANES, Middle-aged and older adults

    Received: 09 Mar 2024; Accepted: 02 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Luo and Lin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Song Lin, Department of Clinical Nutrition, The Affiliated Huaian NO.1 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huaian, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.