Why Does My Body Need Vitamin K?by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger 02 Apr 2007 02:23 PM If you think important vitamins stop at the letter E, think again. Vitamin K is an essential vitamin that can't entirely be produced in our bodies. Only about one third of the vitamin K we need comes from within; the rest must come from your diet. Vitamin K was first recognized in 1929 as a blood clotting agent. A Danish scientist studying chickens found that chicks that lacked a certain factor tended to hemorrhage -- their blood formed clots too slowly. The missing piece was identified as vitamin K. Worried about your bones? Vitamin K to the rescue! This vitamin helps your body build up strong bones because it helps create a protein that binds calcium, rather than let the calcium pass out of your system. If you are concerned about osteoporosis, make sure to get enough vitamin K in your diet. Vitamin K is sometimes useful for women who have extremely heavy menstrual periods. Supplementing your diet with vitamin K can help reduce excessive bleeding, but talk to your doctor about the appropriate amount for you. Too much vitamin K (or too much of any vitamin!) can be bad for your system. Some good sources of vitamin K include:
Eating a healthy, balanced diet isn't always enough to keep vitamin K in your body. Certain conditions like liver disease, gall bladder disease, and intestinal disease that interfere with fat absorption can lead to a vitamin K deficiency. Long-term use of antibiotics and cholesterol medicine can also leave you lacking in vitamin K. Talk to your doctor about the right amount of vitamin K for optimum health. In general, the amount of vitamin K you need increases with age. An adult male may need anywhere between 75 and 120 milligrams of vitamin K daily; an adult female may need between 75 and 90 milligrams of vitamin K daily. Learn more about Aimee Amodio  Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover... Relevanthealth tags User Comments Community Tags potassium, vitamins, vitamin K Discuss this article
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