Balchem, a specialty ingredients manufacturer, has conducted research with Alkemist Labs, an ISO-accredited natural product testing laboratory, which uncovered serious quality issues with vitamin K2 supplements purchased on “one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in the United States.” 

 

Over two-thirds of products tested failed to meet label claims due to low quality or purity of ingredients, which “compromises consumer well-being, diminishes trust, and detracts from the credibility of the dietary supplements industry,” Balchem stated. 

 

Balchem contracted with Alkemist Labs to test 38 vitamin K2 products. 71% fell short of the established quality benchmarks concerning K2 as menaquinone-7 (MK-7) content or isometric purity. 

 

A high portion of the products failed to meet label claims due to excessive cis isomer content. These isomers are not as biologically effective as all-trans MK-7, resulting in low purity, according to Balchem. Some multivitamins or combination formulas used unprotected forms of vitamin K2, which degrade rapidly in the presence of other vitamins and minerals. With only 29% of products meeting MK-7 content and isomeric purity standards, consumers are exposed to ineffective products, which can damage consumer trust and credibility of the dietary supplements industry, Balchem stated. 

 

“This journey towards transparency started in 2018, when we tested for assay and purity of vitamin K2 products in Germany, and the results were shocking. To address this, we contacted manufacturers to inform them of our findings and explore co-development opportunities to enable them to enhance their offering by incorporating all-trans MK-7 and meet label claims. As a result, numerous solutions available on one of the leading e-commerce platforms in Germany now feature the all-trans mark, assuring consumers of best-in-class K2. We aim to increase awareness about the unique specifications of vitamin K2, emphasizing the necessity for the correct isomer, known as all-trans MK-7, as well as the importance of microencapsulation and proper protection in the presence of specific compounds such as minerals,” said Dominik Mattern, VP of science, business development, and marketing at Balchem Human Nutrition and Health. 

 

“As leaders in the vitamin K2 industry, we believe we have a responsibility to meet and maintain benchmarks for quality and transparency,” Mattern continued. “And we’re scrutinizing our own ingredients too. We’ve signed up to the Alkemist Assured transparency program to ensure that our K2VITAL ingredients are third party verified to meet the highest quality standards. Through this program, our K2VITAL MCC 1% and MCT 1% solutions are independently tested for assay and isomeric purity, a practice that started two years ago. Ultimately, our goal is to ensure consumers are given the high-quality, efficacious products they’re seeking.”

 

Balchem’s testing of its own K2Vital ingredient revealed that all-trans MK-7 typically offers 99.7% purity. Tests of its K2Vital Delta, a double-microencapsulated vitamin K2, found that after three months, 100% of all K2Vital Delta and mineral combinations met label claim, compared to 8% of unprotected vitamin K2 and mineral combination products.