Buying vitamin D3 + K2: label, price, supply

When you compare two tubs of D3 + K2, two numbers regularly mislead: the price of the pack and the tablet count printed on it. Neither means anything on its own. What counts is the price per day — and you get that from three figures every label has to carry: the amount per tablet, the intended intake and the number of units. A tub of 180 tablets can therefore last twice as long as one holding 360, and still cost less.

This page explains which details the law requires, how to turn them into a price per day, and how to spot a declaration you can actually calculate with.

What the label has to state

Across the EU, Directive 2002/46/EC sets what a food supplement label must carry; in Germany the Nahrungsergänzungsmittelverordnung (NemV) puts it into national law. Article 6(3) of the Directive requires five items: the names of the categories of nutrients that characterise the product, the recommended daily portion, a warning not to exceed the stated recommended daily dose, a statement that the product is not a substitute for a varied diet, and a note to store it out of the reach of young children.

Article 8 is the one that decides your price comparison. The amount of each nutrient must be given in numerical form — related to the recommended daily portion stated on the label, not to the tablet. On top of that comes the percentage of the reference intakes, today those in Annex XIII Part A of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. For vitamin D that reference value is 5 µg, for vitamin K 75 µg.

Two things follow that are worth keeping in mind while comparing. First: if a tub intends you to take one tablet every twenty days, the nutrition table may relate to an entirely different reference quantity than the big number on the front. Second: with vitamin D the percentage is almost always four digits — 4,000 IU are 100 µg and therefore 2,000 % of the reference value. That number judges nothing, it merely converts. The 5 µg reference is a labelling figure from an annex, not a requirement; the German Nutrition Society (DGE) gives 20 µg per day as its estimated value where the body forms none of its own.

And one figure that can be missing even though you need it: the microgram amount of the vitamin K2. "Vitamin K2 (MK-7)" without a number states a form, not an amount — you cannot build a price per microgram from it. It is on the label; in product descriptions it is not always there.

The sum: price per day, not price per tub

With D3-K2 supplements the intake recommendation is the most interesting line, because it varies from product to product by a factor of twenty. Multiply it by the number of units and you get the supply — the only figure that lets you compare prices.

Product	per tablet	units	per label	calculated supply
D3 4,000 IU + K2 200 µg	100 µg D3, 200 µg K2	365	daily (or every 2nd day)	365 days (or 730)
D3 5,000 IU + K2, vegan	125 µg D3	365	every 5 days	1,825 days
Liposomal D3 5,000 IU + K2	125 µg D3, 100 µg K2	180	every 5 days	900 days
D3 10,000 IU + K2 200 µg	250 µg D3, 200 µg K2	180	every 10 days	1,800 days
D3 10,000 IU + K2 200 µg, vegan	250 µg D3, 200 µg K2	360	every 10 days	3,600 days
D3 20,000 IU + K2 200 µg, vegan	500 µg D3, 200 µg K2	180	every 20 days	3,600 days
D3 20,000 IU + K2 200 µg	500 µg D3, 200 µg K2	360	every 20 days	7,200 days

One gap in the table is deliberate: for the 5,000 IU year's supply the product description names only the form of the vitamin K2, not the amount. That amount is on the label — for a calculation per microgram it is nonetheless missing at this point.

With the last column the sum is a division: price ÷ supply = price per day. An example using the prices of 11 August 2026: the 10,000 IU tub with 180 tablets costs €12.09 and lasts a calculated 1,800 days — 0.67 cents a day. The 20,000 IU tub with 180 tablets costs €14.29 and lasts 3,600 days — 0.40 cents a day. The more expensive tub is around 40 % cheaper per day, because the same number of tablets lasts twice as long at twice the interval.

Both, in this calculation, deliver the same amount: 1,000 IU per day. That holds for almost every product in the table and is no coincidence — the intervals are chosen that way. The exception is the 4,000 IU version, taken daily and therefore delivering four times as much. What that means and where the official reference figures sit is covered in Vitamin D3 + K2 dosage: 1,000 or 5,000 IU?.

For completeness: promotional prices turn such a ranking around for a while. Which is exactly why it pays to note the supply once and enter the current price yourself at the time of purchase, rather than memorising a league table.

"365 tablets" says nothing about how long it lasts

The count on the front is often read as a supply size — 365 tablets, so a year. That is true precisely when one is taken daily. On a twenty-day rhythm, 360 tablets last a calculated 7,200 days, that is almost twenty years.

This sum is not an argument against the large tub, but an argument for choosing it deliberately. Under Article 9(1)(f) of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 every food carries a date of minimum durability, and no vitamin tablet has one twenty years into the future. What stands in the cupboard beyond that date is not a supply, only contents.

In practice: choose the interval first, then the tub size to match. Anyone taking one tablet every twenty days is covered for roughly ten years with 180 units — the 360 pack makes more sense for two people in a household. For anyone taking one daily, a 365 tub really is a year's supply. The date is on the tub, and checking it takes less time than the price comparison.

Tablet, capsule or drops — what the form changes

Vitamin D is fat-soluble, and the trade makes a great deal of marketing out of that. Three things matter for the buying decision.

Drops need a carrier oil — usually MCT oil from coconut, olive oil or sunflower oil. It appears in the ingredients list and is the ingredient that dominates drops by quantity. Their advantage is free dosing, their drawback dosing accuracy: a drop is not a calibrated unit, and whether the bottle is held upright changes the volume.

Tablets contain no oil. That is not a shortcoming: the fat that supports absorption comes from the meal you take them with — which is why intake recommendations say "with a meal". Why the meal matters and the time of day does not is explained in Taking vitamin D3 + K2: timing, meals, fat.

Capsules bring an additional ingredient with them, the shell. Soft capsules are classically made of gelatine, the plant-based alternative is HPMC from cellulose; the liposomal version in our range uses HPMC. Anyone shopping vegan checks more than the shell anyway — the full ingredients list on the label answers that.

Four details that mark a declaration you can rely on

1. "All-trans" for the K2. MK-7 can occur as the all-trans or the cis isomer; the biologically usable one is the all-trans form. A common statement reads "99.7 %+ all-trans". Where the note is missing, a quality statement is missing with it.
2. Both amounts in absolute units. IU or µg for D3, µg for K2, each with a clear reference quantity. Percentages alone are not enough.
3. The complete ingredients list. For a tablet, four entries are realistic: vitamin D3, vitamin K2, a filler such as microcrystalline cellulose and an anti-caking agent. A longer list is no reason to rule a product out; a missing list is.
4. The note on anticoagulants. The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) recommends a warning for food supplements containing vitamin K: anyone taking anticoagulant medication should seek medical advice first. The BfR also proposes maximum amounts of 80 µg vitamin K1 and 25 µg vitamin K2 per daily portion.

All strengths side by side are in the Vitamin D3 + K2 category, the capsule version in the Vitamin D3 + K2 Liposomal category.

What may be printed on the tub

Only the health claims from Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 are permitted, and only in their official wording. For a D3-K2 supplement those include:

• Vitamin D contributes to the normal function of the immune system.
• Vitamin D contributes to the maintenance of normal bones.
• Vitamin K contributes to the maintenance of normal bones.
• Vitamin K contributes to normal blood clotting.

Anything beyond that is advertising without a basis — a usable criterion when comparing two suppliers. Food supplements are not a substitute for a balanced and varied diet and a healthy lifestyle.

Common questions

Is the bigger tub always cheaper?

No — cheaper is whatever costs less per day, and that depends on the intake interval. Two tubs of 180 tablets each can differ in supply by a factor of two if one is intended for every ten days and the other for every twenty. The unit count alone does not carry the comparison.

How do I work out the price per microgram of K2?

Amount per tablet times the number of units gives the total amount; the price divided by that figure is the price per microgram. At 200 µg and 180 tablets that is 36,000 µg. The number only means something when comparing like with like, though — more K2 is not a mark of quality, it is a different amount.

What does "2,000 % NRV" on the pack mean?

That the stated intake contains twenty times the reference value from Annex XIII of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. For vitamin D that value is 5 µg and is purely a labelling figure. The percentage is therefore a conversion, not an assessment.

How do I spot a poorly declared supplement?

By missing reference quantities. If it is unclear what the nutrition table relates to, if the K2 entry gives only the form and no amount, or if the ingredients list cannot be found, the product cannot be compared — however good it may be.

Sources: Directive 2002/46/EC, Articles 6(3), 8(1) to 8(3) and Annexes I and II (in Germany implemented by the Nahrungsergänzungsmittelverordnung, NemV, § 4 paragraphs 2 and 3); Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Article 9(1) and Annex XIII Part A (nutrient reference values: vitamin D 5 µg, vitamin K 75 µg); Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 (list of permitted health claims, official wording); German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), "Höchstmengenvorschläge für Vitamin K in Lebensmitteln inklusive Nahrungsergänzungsmitteln" (80 µg vitamin K1 and 25 µg vitamin K2 per daily portion, warning for people on anticoagulant therapy); German Nutrition Society (DGE), reference values for nutrient intake — vitamin D (estimated value 20 µg per day where endogenous synthesis is absent); strengths, unit counts, ingredients lists and intake recommendations as per the labels and product details of the supplements named; prices as of 11 August 2026.