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.Once the family adopted a diet ofmodern foods, the very same parents would produce children with acharacteristic pattern of distorted, misaligned teeth (as seen in thephotographs in Chapter 2).The severity of the deformity varied,depending on how long and how much modern food had becomepart of the diet.The more that life-preserving, smile-supportingnutrients had been usurped by nutrient-bereft processed foods, themore twisted teeth would result.Price noted that almost every traditional culture he encounteredhad clearly defined rules about nutrition for both men and women who140VITAMIN K, AND THE CALCIUM PARADOXwould become parents.Special foods, often fish eggs, were reserved foryoung adults who planned to marry and expand the family.Inmany tribes young hopefuls were not permitted to be married or evenconsidered eligible for marriage until they had undergone a period ofspecial nutrition.When those special foods for newlyweds andpreconception practices were forsaken in favor of modern fare, thepredictable pattern of facial changes appeared in the children.Despite that chemical analysis showed that healthy traditional dietsand special prenatal nutrition provided abundant fat-soluble vitamins,what's to say that a lack of KZ specifically causes inadequate dentalarches? After all, Price never narrowed down the dietary deficiencythat causes crowded teeth to activator X or any single nutrient.Hiswork in this area specifically emphasizes that a wide range of mineralsand all the fat-soluble vitamins are necessary to produce healthy chil-dren.That's an important take-home point (and Chapter 7 explores thecritical connection between the main fat-soluble vitamins).However,the latest research on vitamin Kz and K,-dependent proteins revealsthat menaquinone is indeed the key to this dietary dental dilemma.Ensuring activation of all of the K,-dependent proteins might be themost important step we can take to safeguard the smiles of our childrenand grandchildren.Given the mapy starring roles osteocalcin has played so far, youmight suspect it has some hand in this phenomenon, too.Surprisingly,normal facial development of the growing fetus, resulting in straightteeth later in life, has more to do with MGP-matrix gla protein.Preventing uncontrolled and inappropriate calcification is the key tohealthy, attractive facial proportions.This is governed by, of all things,the prenatal nose.141EVEN MORE HEALTH BENEFITS OF VITAMIN K,Here's how it works.In the fetus, the developing nasal septal car-tilage, the piece of cartilage that separates the two nasal cavities andforms your nostrils, is normally rich in the witamin K,-dependent MGLI.Functional witamin K2-activated MGP is necessary to maintain grow-ing cartilage in a normal, noncalcified state.When MGP is left inactivcw bya lack of witamin K2, premature calcification in the nasal cartilagestunts the growth of the face.Early hardening of the nose and jaw pre-vents these facial structures from reaching their widest, healthiest pro-portions.This results in an underdevelopment of the middle and lowerthird of the face, a condition technically called maxillonasal hypoplasia.Vitamin K deficiency in the first trimester of pregnancy results in max-illonasal hypoplasia in the newborn, with subsequent facial and orthodontic implications.1°It sounds extreme or monstrous, but it's a very common occurrencenow.I guarantee you see it every day, to a greater or lesser degree, in thcfaces of friends, family, colleagues or maybe even your own reflection, if youhave never had corrective orthodontic work like braces or cosmetic toothextractions.All the children pictured in the photos of modern faces inChapter 2 (page 32) display this to an extent.The degree to which thisparticular deformity has become pervasive in our culture is disguised bythe ubiquity of orthodontic treatment.Along with the stunted develop-ment of the lower third of the face comes narrow dental arches that can'taccommodate a full set of adult teeth.The orthodontic problems thatlie ahead might not be obvious in children, since they have only 2o babyteeth.But, when the cuspids, the last of the adult teeth (not countingthe wisdom teeth), erupt at age 12 or 13, they come in out of place.Uerycommonly, there just isn't room for these natural latecomers to developon their own, so they are pulled out.142VITAMIN K, AND THE CALCIUM PARADOXCuspids are also called eyeteeth or canine teeth.They are the long,often pointy teeth on either side of the four front incisors.After the wis-dom teeth, they are the most commonly impacted teeth.They are sooften crowded that the American Association of Orthodontists recom-mends that a panoramic screening X-ray along with a dental examina-tion be performed on al] dental patients at around age 7 to determineif there will be problems with eruption of the adult teeth.If there isn'troom for the eyeteeth to erupt normally, they will protrude behind or infront of the other teeth.Extensive orthodontic intervention is usuallyrequired to correct the problem.Price clearly demonstrated that it was possible to avoid abnormaldental arches and promote healthy facial development of children withproper prenatal nutrition.Following the example of traditional tribes hevisited, he prescribed special nutrition for his patients before and duringpregnancy [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]