Vitamin K is not a blood thinner. It's quite the opposite, in fact. This essential organic compound is necessary in order for your blood to coagulate and form clots to stop bleeding. The German word "koagulation" is the source of the vitamin's name, as initial findings regarding the nutrient's effects were published in a German journal that referred to it as "koagulationsvitamin," which was later shortened to vitamin K.
Function of Vitamin K
When you incur an injury that involves bleeding, your body works to staunch the flow through a process called the coagulation cascade. This cascade is a precisely ordered sequence of chemical reactions, each involving a specific protein, called a clotting factor. If any of the factors is deficient, the clot is not able to set properly and bleeding can continue. There are seven clotting factors that require vitamin K in order to function properly.
Deficiency and Blood Thinning
Though it's been established that vitamin K doesn't cause blood thinning, a deficiency of this nutrient can. If you do not have an adequate supply of vitamin K you may experience a number of symptoms related to an inability to properly form blood clots. These can include nosebleeds, bruising, heavy menstrual periods, bloody gums and blood in your urine or feces. Infants who are deficient in vitamin K are at risk of potentially fatal bleeding in the skull, which can occur due to birth injuries.
Deficiency Causes
Vitamin K deficiencies are not common in adults due to the ready availability of vitamin K in foods such as olive oil, mayonnaise, broccoli and a number of green leafy vegetables. The human body also contains intestinal bacteria that produce vitamin K. Some factors such as liver damage or fat malabsorption syndromes may restrict your ability to absorb vitamin K from your diet and leave you vulnerable to vitamin K deficiency.
Breastfed newborns are at greater risk of vitamin K deficiency due to insufficient amounts of this nutrient in breast milk, the lack of a developed intestinal flora and the immaturity of the infant's vitamin K cycle.
Vitamin K and Anticoagulant Drugs
Adults who take blood-thinning drugs, such as warfarin may experience drug interactions if they take vitamin K, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. Because anticoagulant drugs have the opposite effect of vitamin K, it is important to maintain the proper balance between the two in order to ensure that your medication remains effective. If you are on blood-thinning drugs, consult your doctor to find out what dosage of vitamin K is right for you.
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