Dr. Amy Nett: I would say probably unless you’re eating natto, which is the fermented soy, there are probably some benefits to most adults for supplementing, and especially if you are taking a vitamin D supplement, I think it makes sense. If you’re doing a lot of dairy from pastured animals and eating a lot of fermented foods, you might be getting enough K2, but in general, if someone is open to supplementing, I think it’s worth either doing the Thorne D and K2 drops if that’s an easy way to do it.
For kids, I don’t know. I don’t know that there’s a lot of research on the need for pediatric supplementation with vitamin K2, but I haven’t really dug into it too much. I have some reluctance in thinking that it’s really necessary for kids to supplement with K2. I think if you have your kids eating egg yolks, again, some dairy from pastured animals, and fermented foods, it’s probably unnecessary that all kids supplement with K2. I haven’t really dug into the research, but it’s not something that I’ve come across or that I’m aware of. I would just say stick with dietary sources if you can, and that’s probably going to be enough. If your kids are eating a nutrient-dense Paleo diet rather than the Standard American Diet that most of us grew up on, they’re probably going to be heads above the rest, even with just that.
Our long-term approach and the way we approach patients in supplementation is really to try to minimize supplements. I absolutely understand that some are necessary, and the ones we do tend to recommend most often are magnesium and cod liver oil, maybe with the butter oil as well because it is such a good source of K, so if you want to do a supplement for K, maybe just do butter oil to get the K in there. I think that could be reasonable.