subject: The Importance of K Vitamin [print this page] The K vitamin is vital for blood to clot to repair injuries. Whenever someone carries a bleeding wound, it is the K vitamin that exists within the blood that can stop the bleeding.
There are three different forms of the K vitamin. The first variant of the K vitamin is vitamin K1, also known as phylloquinone. This is the form of the K vitamin that could be obtained in varieties of plant foods. Vitamin K found in plant foods. The second type of the K vitamin will be the vitamin K2, or menaquinone. This kind of the K vitamin is formed by friendly bacteria in the intestines. Thirdly, there's vitamin K3 which is also referred to as menadione and is generally an artificial type of the K vitamin. All three of these types of K vitamin end up in the liver where it is used to make the blood clotting substances.
The very best natural sources of the K vitamin are green leafy vegetables, such as spinach. However, since the friendly bacteria in the intestine makes one of the types of the K vitamin it is extremely rare for any person to have a deficiency of the K vitamin and so K vitamin supplements are not needed by the majority of people.
Apart from the main function of helping blood to clot, the K vitamin, specifically the Vitamin K1, has an important part to play in the bone building process. This K vitamin is required to retain the calcium in the bones and redistribute it to where it is needed.
Although a K vitamin deficiency is relatively rare there are specific groups of people who may have problems with it. Newborn babies may not have enough of the K vitamin as they have insufficient bacteria in their intestines to produce it. The majority of newborn babies in developed countries are therefore given a K vitamin injection to tide them over until the natural process takes over. that is the only time that a K vitamin supplement will be taken by most people throughout their lives. However, an extended course of antibiotics may lead to a K vitamin deficiency because of the fact that the antibiotics kill the intestinal bacteria and also the ones that they're being taken to cure. Again, a K vitamin supplement may be given if the course of antibiotics has to continue for a long period of time.
