The K Vitamin Overview

The K Vitamin is essential for the blood to clot to repair injuries. Whenever a person has a bleeding wound, it is the K Vitamin that is present in the blood that stops the bleeding and enables most minor cuts to heal quickly. 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 is found in types of plant foods. Vitamin K is found in plant foods. The second form of the K Vitamin is the vitamin K2, or menaquinone. This type of the K Vitamin is formed by friendly bacteria in the intestines. Thirdly, there is vitamin K3 which is also known as menadione and is actually an artificial form of the K Vitamin. All three of these types of K Vitamin end up in the liver where it is used to create the blood clotting substances.

The best natural sources of the K Vitamin are green leafy vegetables, such as spinach. However, because the friendly bacteria in the intestine makes one of the forms of the K Vitamin it is extremely rare for a 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 certain groups of people who may suffer from 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 due to the fact that the antibiotics kill the intestinal bacteria as well as the ones that they are 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.

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