Why menatto®

The authentic Japanese, fully traceable, original fermented vitamin K2

Why menatto®

menatto® vitamin K2 (menaquinone-7, MK-7) is everything you’re looking for in a vitamin K2 ingredient.

  • Natural Vitamin K2
    menatto® is produced through a natural fermentation process using B. subtilis natto, a non-GMO strain used in the production of the traditional Japanese food natto. Made from fermented soybeans, natto is naturally rich in vitamin K2 (MK-7), with 500 times higher concentration than the next-highest food source.

    Natural matters to consumers. A 2018 survey of over 1,000 adults found that most respondents prefer natural to synthetic dietary supplements. In fact, only 8% of respondents said they would purchase synthetic supplements if they were so labeled.
  • Clinically Researched Vitamin K2
    menatto® is supported by a robust portfolio of clinical research. It is backed by ten well-controlled human clinical trials, all published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. This research demonstrates that menatto®:
    ・Supports healthy bone mineral density in post-menopausal women*
    ・Supports healthy bone mineral density in middle-aged men and women*
    ・Helps maintain bone health in post-menopausal women*
    ・Supports proper calcium metabolism in children*
    ・Supports healthy blood vessel elasticity*
    ・Achieves more stable and higher blood levels of vitamin K than vitamin K1
  • Original Fermented Vitamin K2
    Sales of vitamin K2 finished products have increased exponentially over the past few years and the trend is expected to continue through 2025. This is due to increased awareness of its enhanced bioavailability compared to vitamin K1. As a result, many vitamin K2 ingredients have entered the marketplace.

    menatto® is the original fermented vitamin K2 (MK-7) ingredient. J-Oil Mills was the first company in the world to develop a patented fermentation process for manufacturing vitamin K2 (MK-7) in 1997. Since then, J-Oil Mills has been consistently producing menatto® and supplying it to dietary supplement and functional food companies across the globe.
  • Authentic Japanese Vitamin K2
    Japan is the birthplace of natto, where millions of people consume the sticky delicacy daily for breakfast over a bed of rice. Particularly well-loved in Eastern Japan, natto is considered Japanese soul food. It is only fitting, then, that natto-derived vitamin K2 be made by its culture of origin.

    menatto® is the authentic Japanese vitamin K2. It is the only vitamin K2 (MK-7) that is made in Japan, and it may be labeled that way on finished products.
  • Fully traceable Vitamin K2
    Traceability has surged in importance to consumers in recent years. In a 2020 survey, 73% of respondents said that traceability of products is important to them. Among those who said traceability is very important, 71% were willing to pay a premium for it.

    As a vertically integrated company, J-Oil Mills can trace all phases of menatto® production, from procurement of raw materials to manufacturing to distribution, meeting our customers’ and end consumers’ need for traceability.
  • Premium-quality Vitamin K2
    Quality is consistently named one of characteristics consumers most desire in a dietary supplement. A 2019 survey reported that 72% of dietary supplement consumers agree that purity and quality are “very important.”

    J-Oils Mills takes painstaking care to ensure the quality of our products. menatto® is manufactured in our own third-party GMP-certified manufacturing plant in Shizuoka, Japan, where we meet or exceed current standards for good manufacturing practices. The facility is also ISO 22000-certified to ensure safe food management. Additionally, menatto® has achieved self-affirmed GRAS status in the United States and novel food status in the European Union.
  • Proprietary Branded Vitamin K2
    In the rapidly growing market for nutritional products, consumers have a wide and potentially confusing array of choices. Incorporating proprietary, branded ingredients into dietary supplements is an effective method of increasing their perceived and actual quality, helping differentiate them from products that only include commodity ingredients.

    J-Oils Mills has developed menatto® as a proprietary branded ingredient backed by original clinical research as well as a suite of intellectual property, including three product usage patents(JP#5110478, JP#5537151, and JP#5062922), one Japanese process patent (JP#3876395) granted in 2006, and two trademarks protecting the brand name and tagline.

Bioavailability

menatto® is a highly bioavailable form of vitamin K

  • Understanding Vitamin K

    Vitamin K1 (phylloquinone), abundant in leafy greens, is a short-chain vitamin K with a brief half-life in the body. Vitamin K2 (menaquinone), found in fermented foods and animal products, is a long-chain vitamin K with a greatly extended half-life. The supplemental form of K2 is available as either menaquinone-4 (MK-4) or menaquinone-7 (MK-7).

    Derived from the traditional fermented Japanese food natto, menatto® Vitamin K2 (MK-7) is a highly bioavailable form of vitamin K.

  • More Bioavailable than Vitamin K1

    In 2007, a group of researchers made nutritional history with the publication of a paper indicating that natural menatto® vitamin K2 (MK-7) has much higher bioavailability than synthetic vitamin K1.

    In their study of 15 healthy volunteers, the researchers found that:
    • ・menatto® achieved more stable and much higher blood levels of vitamin K (7 to 8-fold higher) than vitamin K1.
    • ・menatto® was retained better than vitamin K1. Whereas blood levels of vitamin K1 dropped 86% in 4 hours, levels of MK-7 declined only 50% in 68 hours.

    “For the food industry, an alternative to increasing the recommended dose would be introducing on a larger scale the more potent MK-7 instead of K1 in functional foods and multivitamin supplements,” lead author Leon Schurgers wrote.

  • More Bioavailable than Menaquinone-4 (MK-4)

    Because of its longer side chain, MK-7 has increased fat solubility and a much longer half-life compared with MK-4. Therefore, MK-7 stays in the system longer and raises blood levels of vitamin K2 more effectively than MK-4.

    A randomized study in 10 healthy Japanese women showed that:
    • ・menatto® increased blood levels of vitamin K2 with a single dose of 420 mcg, whereas vitamin K2 (MK-4) at the same dose was not detectable at any point.
    • ・menatto® increased blood levels of vitamin K2 with a daily dose of 60 mcg for 7 days, whereas vitamin K2 (MK-4) at the same dose did not.
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Process

How menatto® is made

The process for making menatto® starts with natto, the traditional fermented Japanese food that is naturally rich in vitamin K (as K2). In fact, natto contains 500 times more vitamin K2(MK-7) than the next-highest food source.

  1. 1Isolation
    B. subtilis natto, a probiotic strain of bacteria, is isolated from natto.
  2. 2Inoculation
    B. subtilis natto is inoculated into a sterilized plant-based media.
  3. 3Fermentation
    The B. subtilis natto goes to work fermenting the plant-based media in a controlled-temperature environment. During the fermentation process, vitamin K2 is produced.
  4. 4Extraction
    Our K2 is extracted with pure sunflower oil.
  5. 5Purification
    The K2-infused oil undergoes water refining to remove impurities.
  6. 6Deodorization
    The odoriferous components of the oil are removed through a unique distillation process, rendering it tasteless and odorless.
  7. 7Blending
    To produce menatto® vitamin K2 MK-7 Oil 1500, the refined, deodorized oil is blended with pure sunflower oil until concentrations are achieved that facilitate the formulation process, after which it is micro-filtrated.
  8. 8Spray-drying
    To produce menatto® vitamin K2 MK-7 Powder 1000/2000, the refined, deodorized oil is emulsified with natural excipients, powdered, and then filtrated.