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• Vitamin K is one of the 13 essential vitamins you need in your diet for heart and bone health.
• There are three forms of vitamin K: vitamin K1, vitamin K2, and vitamin K3.
• You can get vitamin K from different plant and animal food sources, nutrition supplements, and it is also produced in your large intestine.
• Vitamin K deficiency is rare in adults, but it can cause serious symptoms such as excessive bleeding and easy bruising.
Have you ever cut yourself so badly that you wondered when and how you would finally stop bleeding? Vitamin K plays a major role in blood clotting, and it is even known as the “clotting” vitamin. Read more below to understand vitamin K’s functions, benefits, and sources.
Vitamin K is one of the 13 essential vitamins needed in your diet because your body cannot make enough on its own. [1] Along with being essential, vitamin K is fat-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins are stored in your liver or fat tissue. Since these vitamins are not easily flushed from your body like water-soluble vitamins, they have the potential to accumulate and cause toxic side effects. No need to stress as vitamin K toxicity is very rare, and you would have to take excessively high amounts of vitamins to reach toxicity levels.
Vitamin K is essential for many physiological functions:
• Helps make a protein called prothrombin, which plays a critical role in blood clotting to prevent excessive bleeding and allows your skin to heal after a cut.
• Prevents vascular calcification, which is the buildup of calcium in your veins and arteries. According to studies it can also help prevent heart disease.
• Supports many aspects of bone health, such as bone density, formation, and repair. Research shows that vitamin K can help prevent osteoporosis.
• Beneficial for teeth.
There are three forms of vitamin K:
1. Vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) — Found mostly in plant food sources. This form is beneficial for blood clotting, but your body does not optimally absorb this form and it’s easily excreted.
2. Vitamin K2 (menaquinone) — This form is produced by the good bacteria in your large intestine, and it’s also found in some food sources. Menaquinone is the active form and goes to your blood vessels first and then delivers nutrients to your other tissues.
3. Vitamin K3 (menadione) — This is the synthetic form of vitamin K.
Different food sources use different forms of vitamin K. Plants contain high levels of vitamin K1 and animal sources are high in vitamin K2. Dietary sources rich in vitamin K include:
• Dark, leafy greens: kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus
• Butter
• Cheese
• Egg yolks
• Meat
• Fermented soybean products
Each form of vitamin K is also available in nutrition supplements. It’s important to do your homework when choosing a nutrition supplement as all forms of vitamin K are not equal. We recommend choosing supplements that use the most effective and bioavailable form of vitamin K,
Everyone is different, and certain factors such as your age, sex, or health will affect your unique nutritional needs differently than someone else. To provide a general guide, adequate intake (AI) levels were established to meet the needs of most healthy individuals.
The recommended AI for vitamin K is as follows:
• Infants (0 – 12 months): 2–2.5 mcg/day
• Children (1 – 8 years): 30–55 mcg/day
• Adolescents (9 – 18 years): 60–75 mcg/day
• Adults (19+ years): 2.4 mcg/day
• Pregnant and nursing women: 90–120 mcg/day
If you have a preexisting health condition, concern, or take prescription medication, it’s important to talk to your doctor or registered dietitian about your nutrition, especially when choosing which supplements and dosages are optimal for your health.
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