Fat-Soluble Vitamins; Vitamin K
Vitamin K Vitamin K food sources Vitamin K appropriately gets its name from the Danish word koagulation ("coagulation" or "clotting"). Its primary action s blood clotting, in which its presence can make the difference between life and death. Blood has a remarkable ability to remain liquid, but it can clot within seconds when the integrity of that system is distributed. It has other names such as Phylloquinone (vitamin K1), menaquinone (vitamin K2), and menadione (in supplements). Roles in the Body: More than a dozen different proteins and the mineral calcium are involved in making a blood clot. Vitamin K is essential for the activation of several of these proteins, among them prothrombin, made by the liver as a precursor of the protein thrombin. When any of the blood-clotting factors is lacking, hemorrhagic disease results. If an artery or vein is cut or broken, bleeding goes unchecked. Of course, this is not say that hemorrhaging is always caused by vitamin K de...