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What are deficiency symptoms for vitamin K?

One of the first signs of Vitamin K deficiency is to present with problems with clottiong or bleeding. For example heavy menstrual bleeding, gum bleeding, bleeding internally or in the digestive system and tract, nose bleeding, easy bruising, blood in the urine, prolonged clotting times, hemorrhaging, and anemia.

Secondary signs of Vitamin K deficiency are bone problems. These symptoms can include loss of bone (osteopenia), decrease in bone mineral density (osteoporosis), and breaks and fractures.

A less common sign of vitamin K deficiency is excess deposition of calcium in soft tissues.

This can result in hardening of the arteries and problems with the heart due to high levels of calicification.

Below Is A List Of Oils And Fruit Containing Vitamin K

H=High    M= Medium    L=Low

Fats and dressings:
Oils:
Canola       7 Tbsp a week       H
Cottonseed, olive, soybean       7 Tbsp a week       M
Corn, linoleic, peanut, safflower, sesame, sunflower, walnut       7 Tbsp a week       L
Shortening (soybean, cottonseed)       7 Tbsp a week       M
Margarine        7 Tbsp a week       M to H
Mayonnaise        7 Tbsp a week       M
Salad dressings:
Oil and vinegar       7 Tbsp a week       M to H
French dressing       7 Tbsp a week       H
Blue, Roquefort cheese       7 Tbsp a week       H
Russian       7 Tbsp a week       H
Low fat       7 Tbsp a week       L
Thousand Island       7 Tbsp a week       H
Low fat       7 Tbsp a week       M
Italian       7 Tbsp a week       M
Low fat       7 Tbsp a week       L
Butter       7 Tbsp a week       L

Fruits
Apple, green        1       L
Avocado       1oz       L
Blueberries       1/2 cup       L to M
Figs       8       M
Grapes, red or green       1cup       M
Honeydew melon       1cup       L
1/8 melon       L

One of the key roles that Vitamin K plays in our bodies is that it helps healthy blood clotting. That’s also probably what Vitamin K is most ‘famous’ for too. Although blood clotting may not sound vitally important, it is central to our health

If we don’t clot we can lose too much blood, but on the other hand if the Vitamin K balance is wrong, our body can create clots that are too large and could potentially block blood vessels, or become more serious if they make their way to other parts of the body such as the brain, lungs or heart.

Much of our understanding about vitamin K and clotting comes from early experiments with a drug called warfarin, which is a widely used anticoagulant drug that works by inhibiting the body’s ability to clot.

Vitamin K is vital to this clotting process, because some of the chemical elements it contains produce the ‘stickiness’ needed to close wounds.

It also protects bones from weakening or fracture

Vitamin K is not a single chemical substance as some people think,  but rather a group of substances that fall under the ubrella term of “vitamin K.”

Over the past two decades, our understanding of Vitamin K has increased radically.

We’ve always referred to vitamin K1, vitamin K2, and vitamin K3, but these terms are largely being replaced by various different descriptions ans it becomes apparant just how complex the whole Vitamin D issue is.

All types of vitamin K fall into a category of substances called naphthoquinones.

Phylloquinones is made by plants.

Menaquinones is made by bacteria.

We get most of our dietary vitamin K in the form of phylloquinones from plant foods.

Up to 90% of our dietary vitamin K comes from plants, especially green leafy vegetables.

But we also get Vitamin K from bacteria in our intestines  in the form of menaquinones, but recent studies have shown that the amount we derive is nowhere near as much as we thought.