Your body needs vitamin K for your blood to clot properly. Fortunately, it's rare to have a vitamin K deficiency because your intestinal bacteria can create vitamin K if you don't consume enough. Vitamin K can be especially useful for you if you suffer from a blood clotting disorder.
Reducing the Risk of Bleeding
If you have a high risk of bleeding, vitamin K may help reduce that risk. Medical professionals sometimes use vitamin K to reduce the risk of bleeding in patients whose bleeding risk is higher than the general population, due to long-term use of antibiotics, liver disease, or a nutritional malabsorption disorder, notes the University of Maryland Medical Center. If you've received too much of a blood-thinning medication, your doctor may give you vitamin K to reverse the drug's effect and decrease your risk of bleeding.
Stopping Bleeding
If you're experiencing bleeding problems, vitamin K may help stop your bleeding. After surgery, your doctor may give you vitamin K by injection to stop bleeding and promote wound healing. Vitamin K can also stop bleeding that may occur after taking medications such as antibiotics, sulfonamides, salicylates, and quinine. Regardless of the source of the bleeding, vitamin K can help stop it.
Sources
Green vegetables are the best dietary sources of vitamin K. Some of the vegetables that contain vitamin K include broccoli, spinach, kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, turnip greens, dark green lettuce, and asparagus, and green tea also contains vitamin K. Vitamin K is also included in most multivitamin supplements sold in the United States.
Amounts
The recommended daily amount of vitamin K is 120 micrograms for men and 90 micrograms for women. If you feel you need additional vitamin K, consult with your doctor as this vitamin may interfere with certain medications like warfarin, which is also known as Coumadin.
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