Menaquinones, Bacteria, and Foods: Vitamin K2 in the Diet

Vitamin K2 is a collection of isoprenologues that mostly originate from bacterial synthesis, also called menaquinones (MKs). Multiple bacterial species used as starter cultures for food fermentation are known to synthesize MK. Therefore, fermented food is the best source of vitamin K2. In the Western diet, dairy products are one of the best known and most commonly consumed group of fermented products.