What Food Has Vitamin K?

The human body needs a variety of vitamins and minerals from the food we eat in order to function correctly. One such mainstay is vitamin K, which is found in many foods. The lack of vitamin K is disastrous to the human body.

Function

Vitamin K is necessary for blood clotting. Without it, blood would not clot--and just as in a person with hemophilia, any slight injury could be deadly. Vitamin K is also needed in order for proteins to be made in kidneys, plasma and bones. However, the proteins that are synthesized are used in the blood clotting process. Recent research has also linked vitamin K to increased bone mass in elderly people, which may help women suffering from osteoporosis.

Sources

Vitamin K is found in leafy green vegetables and some fruits. Some of the vegetables include spinach, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and broccoli. Fruits such as avocado and kiwi also contain high amounts of vitamin K. The amount of vitamin K that can be absorbed by the body decreases after vegetables are cooked. Vitamin K can also be found in dairy products, eggs and meat.

Deficiency

Vitamin K normally is not deficient in a diet. But when it is, the consequences are severe. Some symptoms of vitamin K deficiency include uncontrolled bleeding, stomach pains, bruising, anemia, cartilage turning into bone and increased rate of atherosclerosis. It's rare for a healthy adult to develop vitamin K deficiency. The people who develop vitamin K deficiency usually have pre-existing conditions including decreased liver function due to alcoholism, recent abdominal surgery and bowel diseases.

History

Vitamin K was discovered in 1929 when Henrik Dam, a Danish scientist, was experimenting with decreased cholesterol diet and noticed that the chickens experienced uncontrolled bleeding. Despite its discovery, scientists only had a vague idea of the function of vitamin K. It was only known as the clotting vitamin and that green leafy vegetables contained vitamin K. The discovery of the exact function of vitamin K is rather recent, occurring in 1974.

Further Studies About Vitamin K

More recent studies have linked vitamin K with being able to retard the advancement of Alzheimer's disease, reduce the amount of dark circles under the eyes, and reduce the risk of cancer. The studies regarding cancer have shown that people were less likely to develop liver cancer with more vitamin K intake and that men were less likely to develop advanced prostate cancer if they consumed more vitamin K.