Foods high in vitamin K

Eating plenty of foods high in Vitamin K will help keep you healthy and will meet some of your most important nutritional needs. However, some people with serious health conditions may want to avoid foods that are high in Vitamin K. For example, individuals who are taking an anticoagulant like Plavix for a heart condition should be careful of the amount of foods high in vitamin K that they eat. This is because vitamin K helps blood to clot. Anticoagulants prevent blood clotting.

Vitamin K is an essential nutrient that helps blood coagulate and will also synthesize protein in the human body. Knowing which foods are high in vitamin K helps you plan your meals appropriately. Almost all of green vegetables are high in vitamin K. This would include avocados as well as broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, green onions, turnip greens, parsley, spinach, lettuce and many others. To get the most vitamin K from these foods you should eat them fresh and not cooked. Cooking fresh green leafy vegetables destroys the vitamin content. However, if you must cook these fresh green leafy vegetables, cook them the least amount as possible. In other words, only cook them until they are tender crisp and not mushy and well done.

Animal products that are high in vitamin K include beef and pork livers. When you cook liver the best way to prepare it is by roasting or frying. You want preserve as much vitamin K as possible so this is the best way to cook it. Liver should be cooked to where it is brown on the outside, but still pink on the inside if you want to preserve the vitamin K content. Other foods that are high in vitamin K soybeans, mayonnaise, margarine and canola oil.

Some fruits and other vegetables contain moderate amounts of vitamin K. These foods would be such ones as kiwi fruit, plums, dill pickles cucumbers, celery, peas, artichokes, leeks and lentils. Foods that are low in vitamin K are tomatoes, sweet potatoes, apricots, blueberries, tofu, cantaloupes, apples, grapes, peaches, oats and carrots and bananas.

As you can see there is a wide range of foods that contain vitamin K. Some of these foods are high in vitamin K, others are moderate and still others are very low. The human body does not store vitamin K for very long periods of time. The body will not store it in large doses either. For this reason it is best that you eat as many raw green leafy vegetables as you can every day. This will help you to maintain a healthy level of this vitamin in your body. Make sure you include foods that are high in vitamin K with each meal.

If you can not include foods high in vitamin K with each meal, at least include several that are moderately high in vitamin K. Then remember to try to make up for it by including foods high in vitamin K with the next meal of the day.

Eating foods high in vitamin K will give you many health benefits. Aside from proper blood clotting, foods high in vitamin K will help keep blood vessels flexible as well as regulate bone health. If you are deficient in vitamin K you can sufferer such health problems as:

  • Excessive bleeding from small cuts
  • bloody noses
  • bruising easily
  • osteoporosis, or other symptoms of weak bones that can lead to fractures
  • hardening of the arteries or atherosclerosis
  • the potential for birth defects and physical deformities

Heart patients should not eat too many foods high in vitamin K. Vitamin K thickens blood and can lead to heart attacks, strokes and other problems for some people. You should never supplement with vitamin K without first giving advice from your physician.

Last updated on Feb 20th, 2010 and filed under Vitamins and Minerals. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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