During the 1930s some chickens in America were fed on a diet of pellets, but they later died from internal bleeding. It was found that this could be prevented by including vegetables in their diet.
Scientists later discovered that vegetables particularly green leafy vegetables like spinach, contain a chemical substance which helps the blood to clot. This is called vitamin K.
Vitamin K, is a fat soluble vitamin, which means that the body stores it in fat tissue and the liver. Vitamin K plays an important role in bone health especially for the elderly and athletes.
There are a number of conditions that can prevent the body from absorbing vitamin K namely, crohn’s disease, gallbladder and cystic fibrosis just to name a few. Discovered in 1929, vitamin K comes in three forms, vitamin K1, K2 and K3 which all have a purpose to our everyday lives.
This vitamin is important like any other vitamin, it is known to treat or prevent certain health conditions like bone fractures, cystic fibrosis, chronic liver disease, liver and pancreatic cancers, inflammatory bowel disease, kidney stones, osteoporosis, thrombosis, nausea and vomiting during pregnancy and so on.
Insufficient amounts of vitamin K in the body can cause a variety of disorders like blood clotting which could result in increased bleeding just like what happened to the chickens, so consumption of vitamin K is very essential even though deficiency is rare. Foods enriched with vitamin K can keep you very healthy and strong especially your bones and thus prevents various illnesses.
Vitamin K allows your blood to clot normally, aids in the prevention of post menopausal bone loss and protects the bones from fractures.
There are many symptoms that can tell if maybe you are vitamin K deficient like heavy menstraul bleeding in women even though it can be associated with other sickness, other symptoms includes the bleeding of the gums and nose, and when the body is easily bruised, in other words any excessive bleeding can be a symptom.
Vitamin K is available in foods and can also be found in supplements, when taking such dietary supplements it is of great importance to contact a health care practitioner especially if taking other medications, pregnant, breast feeding or giving it to children.
Food sources that contain vitamin K includes all green leafy vegetables like lettuce, kale, spinach, parsley, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and other foods like tomatoes and blueberries. The bacteria found in the intestines is also known to make vitamin K.
With all that said there are a number of health problems that can prevent the body from absorbing vitamin K such as gallbladder, cystic fibrosis and Crohn’s disease and the consumption of this vitamin is only known to have a few side effects especially if you have certain illness.