Chiropractic Nutrition Tip: K1 and K2 for You!

Are you a bleeder? Perhaps that's a crass way of diagnosing, but if you have a tendency to have bloody noses or bruises easily, you may need a boost of vitamin K. Vancouver chiropractic patients' hearts and bones may well gain, too!

Vitamin K

Now, vitamin K isn't a "popular" vitamin, but it's a vital vitamin when it comes to blood clotting. If you had no vitamin K, blood wouldn't coagulate or clot. Some research now also show that it’s important to keep bones strong in older individuals, too. (1) We'll talk some about that here, too. So Vancouver Disc Centers thought we'd share some facts about vitamin K that may enhance your chiropractic treatment plan.

What is Vitamin K?

It's a fat-soluble vitamin that the body stores in fat tissue and the liver. You can get it from eating leafy green foods or from the production of vitamin K by the bacteria in your intestines. If you take antibiotics, you may kill off the bacteria which in turn lower your vitamin K stores. So contemplate eating more chlorophyll-filled foods like broccoli, kale, spinach, asparagus, and dark green lettuce. Chlorophyll gives plants their green color and provides vitamin K. (2)

There are three forms of vitamin K:

• K1 (phylloquinone/natural form or phytonadione/synthetic form) - naturally found in vegetables
• K2 (menaquinone) - produced by bacteria in the intestines
• K3 (menaphthone or mendione)

K1 is the only one available as a supplement (in multivitamins or solo tablets). (2) Vancouver Disc Centers touts dietary intake and sometimes supplementation. We work with our Vancouver chiropractic patients to make it easy and convenient for them and their lifestyles to balance their nutrition.

Uses

Vancouver Disc Centers looks at the overall health of our Vancouver chiropractic patients, so your heart and bone health is important to us, too.

• Blood-clotting – K1
• Heart disease prevention – K2
• Vitamin K2 is gaining recognition for its heart disease prevention. (3)  
• In the 10 year Rotterdam study of 4800 persons, those consumed the most vitamin K2 reports have a 50% reduced risk of arterial calcification and 50% reduced risk for cardiovascular events. (4)
• Another 16,000 person study reports a 9% reduction in coronary heart disease for every 10 mcg vitamin K2 consumed. (4)
• Bone Health – K2
• K2 is also gaining notoriety for protecting against osteoporosis.    (5)
• Vitamin K2 menaquinone is essential for the binding of calcium to the bone matrix. (4)

Barriers to Vitamin K Absorption

Gallbladder disease, celiac disease, cystic fibrosis, and Crohn’s disease may prevent enough absorption of vitamin K. (umm) Multivitamin supplements or vitamin K shots may work better for them. (2) And if you are on anticoagulant therapy, be careful of your intake of vitamin K through food or supplementation. It may affect how this therapy works. (1)