A little less famous than vitamin A, B and C, vitamin K performs a limited task to work on our body’s blood clotting. Vitamin K is not known worldwide, but the lack of it can lead to serious consequences such as their presence helps prevent some types of tumors.

vitamin K foods

Known as menadione, was one of the vitamins that later was discovered by Heinrik Dam in 1929, when there was a hemorrhagic disease in chickens that were fed fat-free, being that they found a substance essential to regulate coagulation blood, which the scientist called Koagulation. This was the first time appeared vitamin K.

Today, there are three types of vitamin K: K1 the more effective find in abundance in vegetables, K2 is of animal origin and synthesize our body from bacteria found in the intestine. Finally, the K3, which is a variety developed in laboratory, or synthetic is used under prescription.

Vitamin K belongs to the group of soluble or that is stored in the liver tissue and fat and needs of bile into the duodenum to achieve integration into the body. For this to be absorbed properly is necessary to eat fatty foods.

It is very resistant to heat so well accepted cooking although contact with the light undergoes rapid oxidation.

The most important function of vitamin K is in the process of blood clotting, which is essential for the development of life, thus becoming essential for the formation of clots in charge to prevent bleeding.

Recent studies have found that it is extremely important and beneficial in the treatment of various tumors such as breast, ovaries, kidneys, stomach, colon and lungs.

Our bodies need small amounts of vitamin K, so it is very difficult to detect its deficiency, which can be a sign of some disorders that hamper their synthesis in the right way, such as the lack of bile and gastrointestinal disorders.

The prolonged lack of this vitamin generates the death of the bacterial fauna call found in the intestine and this leads to suffering intestinal bleeding, hematomas that occur without explanation, blood in urine, broken capillaries and bleeding often both nose and gums.

In fact, it is rare that there is a lack of vitamin K, but if it were necessary to make an extra intake of vitamin K3, the synthetic version of vitamin K.

People are prone to bleeding as those who are under antibiotic treatment with high doses of aspirin or any situation that affects the normal functioning normal liver may be at risk from lack of vitamin K.

It is also recommended for infants because it prevents the problems that some babies suffer from bleeding after birth.

Also, vitamin K, like all others, is essential for our body to function correctly, but the synthetic is used in medicine can bring some dangers that must be considered.

Medications such as phytomenadione and menadione, is the way that vitamin K3 is presented and used in treatment of bleeding that are caused by certain medications, being to keep in mind some risk factors at the time of use such as vitamin allergy, pregnancy and use not prescribed by your doctor.

Vitamin K also plays an important role in bone formation, and linking the protein and calcium, helping the latter is set in a more firm on the protein mesh that are formed bone. For this reason, experts recommend ingestion when suffering from osteoporosis or fracture cases, as these problems reduce the amount of calcium excreted in the urine.

Finally, need to know where to find this vitamin, examples are:

Vegetables:

  • Cabbage
  • Virgin sunflower oil
  • Spinach
  • Cauliflower
  • Lettuce
  • Soybean meal

Animals:

  • Chicken heart
  • Cod-liver
  • Cheese
  • Egg
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