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topic: Vitamin k
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Vitamin K
(Phylloquinone, menaquinone, menadione)

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin that plays an important role in blood clotting. The body can store fat-soluble vitamins in fatty tissue. This nutrient is a group of chemicals that your body uses to make specialized proteins found in blood plasma (the clear fluid in blood), such as prothrombin, the protein chiefly responsible for blood clotting.
You also need this vitamin to make bone and kidney tissues. Like vitamin D, this nutrient is essential for healthy bones. Vitamin D increases calcium absorption; vitamin K activates at least three different proteins that take part in forming new bone cells.

Function

This vitamin is necessary for normal clotting of blood in humans. Specifically, this nutrient is required for the liver to make factors that are necessary for blood to properly clot (coagulate). Does not generally need supplementation unless some form of malabsorption exists in the gut, or if the bacteria in the gut that manufacture this vitamin have been destroyed.  Some studies indicate that it helps in maintaining strong bones in the elderly.

This nutrient ingested by mothers is generally considered to be safe during breastfeeding. There is very little of this vitamin transmitted to infants through breast milk.

It is not known if the amount of this nutrient in breast milk is increased if mothers take supplements, but the scientific evidence suggests that this likely would make little if any difference. If an infant formula is used that is not fortified with this nutrient, a physician should be consulted to find another way for the infant to receive this vitamin.

Food Sources

This vitamin is found in dark green leafy vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, kale, lettuce, spinach, and turnip greens), cheese, liver, cereals, and fruits, but most of what you need comes from resident colonies of friendly bacteria in your intestines, an assembly line of busy bugs churning out the vitamin day and night.

This nutrient may be obtained in the recommended amount with a well-balanced diet. This vitamin is also made in the body by normal beneficial gastrointestinal bacteria.

All the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) are inhibited by the ingestion of mineral oil because they dissolve in the oil and are lost.

Deficiency Side Effects

Deficiency of this nutrient is very rare. It occurs when the body can´t properly absorb the vitamin from the intestinal tract. This deficiency can also occur after long-term treatment with antibiotics.

This vitamin´s deficiency in infants can lead to hemorrhagic disease of the newborn, also known as vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB). Although up to half of newborns may have some degree of deficiency, serious hemorrhagic disease with bleeding is rare.

Deficiency is rare in adults, but can lead to defective blood clotting and increased bleeding, as well as osteoporosis. Individuals with this deficiency are usually more likely to have bruising and bleeding.

Recommendations

Specific recommendations depend on age, gender, and other factors (such as pregnancy). The best way to get the daily requirement of essential vitamins is to eat a balanced diet that contains a variety of foods from the food guide pyramid.

If you take warfarin (a blood thinner), you should know that vitamin K or foods containing vitamin K can affect how the drug works. Ask your health care provider how much vitamin K or vitamin K-containing foods you should consume.