Vitamin K

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Vital Vitamin K

We're all pretty familiar with our As, Bs, Cs and even Ds when it comes to making sure we're getting the vitamins we need to be healthy, but many of us have never heard of vitamin K. This important nutrient is vital to our health, so it may be time to add a new letter to your vitamin alphabet.

Vitamin K is important because it helps our body with blood clotting. That's what makes us stop bleeding and begin to heal after we cut ourselves. People who don't have enough vitamin K in their systems can be prone to excessive bruising or nose bleeds. They can also run into serious trouble if they're badly hurt, since they won't stop bleeding.

Sounds pretty important, doesn't it? But don't panic if a close look at the label on your multi-vitamin doesn't reveal a healthy dose of K. Most of us don't have any problem getting enough of this vital nutrient from our regular diet.

How to Get Vitamin K

So where do you get your daily dose of vitamin K? We tend to find about half of what we need in leafy, green vegetables. Foods such as spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and asparagus are all good sources. There is also vitamin K found in some vegetable oils, like olive oil, canola oil and soybean oil. Yogurt and some kinds of cheese are other sources of the vitamin in our diets. And for those who would rather take theirs in liquid form, you can also find it in green tea and (believe it or not) coffee.

It isn't all about eating your greens though. Vitamin K is fat soluble, which means that your body needs fat in order to absorb the vitamin and benefit from it. If you eat one of the oils or cheeses rich in vitamin K you'll already have that oil in your diet, but if you are an extremist when it comes to cutting the fat from your diet, you might have trouble absorbing certain nutrients.

More Facts

In the rare circumstance where someone is vitamin K deficient, there is a synthetic version of the vitamin which can be taken as a supplement. Most healthy people don't have to worry about it, but if you seem to be suffering from a lot of bruising or uncontrollable nose bleeds, ask your doctor if you could benefit from an extra helping of vitamin K.

If you're on blood thinning medications, such as Aspirin, for a heart condition, then you'll want to avoid having too much vitamin K is your system. Since the function of vitamin K is to thicken your blood and help it clot, it works against what the blood thinners are trying to accomplish.

There are some researchers who feel that, as well as keeping our blood healthy, vitamin K can help us to live longer. It is said to have antioxidant properties. Antioxidants help to prevent our cells from dying, so they keep us healthier for longer.

Compared to other vitamins and minerals, getting enough vitamin K in our diets is usually not a worry. As long as we are eating a healthy range of foods, we'll have a steady supply of this vital nutrient, but now that you know how important it is you may find you pay a bit more attention to it.

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