Vitamin K nutrition is showing up in the press a lot lately. Many people are concerned they aren't getting enough.
This vitamin recently grabbed headlines because new discoveries show it has a powerful ability to add bone density to protect you from a hip fracture. Research also shows it can protect your heart by keeping the blood flowing through your arteries.
What You Need to Know About Vitamin K Nutrition
If you eat asparagus, kale and broccoli regularly, you're probably getting enough of one type of vitamin k. This is also called Vitamin K1 or Phylloquinone. It helps your blood clot.
There's a possibility you could be deficient in this vitamin if you have Chron's disease or other diseases that blocks absorption in the digestive tract. You could also be deficient if you take blood thinning drugs.
Otherwise, you probably get enough.
However, scientists say you probably don't get enough of a different type of Vitamin K. This is K2 or Menaquinone. This is important because it regulates your calcium levels.
For a century, doctors knew that people developed a strange, bone like structure lining their arteries as they aged. It was dismissed as an oddity of age until recently when doctors realized that "bone like" material was actually calcium. And it shouldn't be there.
How Eating More Cheese Can Help
A Dutch study followed over 16,000 women for 8 years. They had no coronary disease at the start of the study. They were monitored for Vitamin K1 and K2 intakes. At the end of the study, nearly 500 women had developed coronary heart disease. They had eaten less cheese, eggs and meat than the others.
Surprising isn't it? The same foods the doctors have told us to avoid just might help us increase our K2 intake.
Fermented cheese like gruyere are the best. See K2 is a fat soluble vitamin. That means it needs fat to dissolve into your body and do its work. So, fatty foods like meat and cheese can be good resources.
But don't get too excited yet.
Doctors say it's hard to get all the K2 you need from your food unless you start eating Natto. This is a Japanese food of fermented soybeans. Sources say it's a gooey, stinky substance that smells like the Japanese equivalent of limburger. It's a great source of K2 but not very popular among those who didn't grow up eating it.
So, to increase your vitamin k nutrition, you can develop a taste for Natto and eat more cheese and meat. Of course, then you risk other cardiovascular problems.
However, if you'd to make it easier on yourself and maintain a healthy diet, you can take a multi-vitamin supplement with K2.
All supplements don't have this important ingredient so you should always read the label. I have found one that combines k2 with 79 other essential vitamins. It may be the most potent multi-vitamin available. You can learn more at my website below.
Jen P. April is a passionate advocate of health and nutrition. To learn more about effective supplements she recommends after extensive research, visit http://vitamin-and-minerals.com/.
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