The Right Vitamin K Nutrition Is Essential to Your Heart Health

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/.

Original article

These Vitamin K Benefits Could Be Your Secret Weapon Against Heart Disease

Let me ask you a quick question, do you want to keep yourself healthy for as long as possible? Do you want to escape the heart disease that plagues so much of the country?

Of course you do!

Vitamin K benefits are rocking the medical establishment and with good reason. The benefits range from protecting you from bone loss to safeguarding your heart.

In fact, studies show this vitamin plays an important role in keeping your calcium where it needs to be and out of your arteries where you don't want it.

Powerful Benefits

The Rotterdam Study, a well-known study on Vitamin K, found participants who had a high intake of this vitamin had significantly lower calcium build up in their arteries-where it calcifies and can lead to a heart attack.

This study followed 4800 Dutch participants for 7 years. This is the largest clinical trial to find a direct correlation between vitamin K2 intake and heart disease. The scientists found participants who included the most vitamin K2 in their diets experienced 57% fewer heart attacks than those who got the least.

They also had a higher calcium amount in their bones-where it can protect you from "The Fall" so many seniors experience that lead to hospital visits and a downward spiral in health.

Here's How It Works:

Your body has an enzyme called Matrix Gla-protein (MGP). It's controlled by K2. MGP is a calcium-binding protein found in your bones. You need this.

Research shows lab mice who don't have enough of this protein die with calcified arteries-similar to atherosclerotic plaque in your arteries.

Studies find that one of Vitamin K's biggest benefits is keeping your calcium out of your arteries-and in your bones where it belongs.

That way it protects your heart and your bones.

Not Just Any Vitamin K

Of course, these benefits don't come from all types of Vitamin K. In fact, you need a specific kind-Vitamin K2-to enjoy these benefits.

Vitamin K2 is difficult to get from the typical Western diet.

It's also difficult to find in a lot of supplements.

That's because most manufactures use the cheaper Vitamin K1 which helps with blood clotting. Scientists say you probably do get enough of this in your food.

Yet, only a few supplements contain the all-important Vitamin K2.

A prominent cardiologist at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, conducted a study of 16,057 women between the ages of 49-70, for an average of 8 years. His findings are groundbreaking.
480 women who didn't get enough K2, developed coronary disease.

To make matters worse, the popular blood thinning drug warfarin depletes your already low levels of this important vitamin.

To protect your health you have to get the K2. Now that you know these important Vitamin K benefits, your next step is to find a supplement that has this essential form of the vitamin.

Wouldn't it be great if you could get it in a multi-vitamin?

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/

Original article