When you cut your hand, what stops the bleeding is the clotting of your blood. Vitamin K, a fat-soluble vitamin stored in the liver and fat cells, plays a vital part in the workings of several proteins necessary for coagulation, as the Linus Pauling Institute notes. Without these clotting factors, your hand would continue to bleed. Vitamin K also affects bone mineral density.
How Vitamin K Works
For blood to coagulate, seven proteins must be triggered. Vitamin K binds calcium ions to begin the coagulation cascade, or sequence of events that stops bleeding. Two proteins are produced to balance and control the coagulating effect. These proteins are synthesized in the liver.
Sources of Vitamin K
Although there is no recommended dietary allowance for vitamin K, the Food and Nutrition Board has set an adequate daily allowance of 90 mcg for women and 120 mcg for men. In healthy individuals, bacteria normally found in the bowels manufacture vitamin K. The vitamin can also be found in vegetables oils, such as canola and olive oil, as well as in mayonnaise, kale, spinach, parsley and Swiss chard.
Osteoporosis
Vitamin K also has a role in bone mineral density. In a study published in "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," 72,000 women ages 38 to 63 were followed for 10 years as researchers sought to determine the relationship between vitamin K and osteoporosis. The researchers found that women who had the lowest dietary intake of vitamin K experienced the highest incidence of hip fractures.
Vitamin K Deficiency
Low levels of vitamin K may impair blood clotting, resulting in bruising, bleeding gums, very heavy menstrual periods, nosebleeds, tarry stools or blood in your urine. Newborns are highly susceptible to vitamin K deficiency, because the bacteria necessary to produce vitamin K are not present in their intestines for the first week after birth, and breast milk does not adequately transfer vitamin K. In the United States, most newborns are given vitamin K injections or oral doses immediately after birth.
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