Vitamin K Foods List
Thank you for visiting our page all about foods with vitamin K in. Here we will answer the fundamental question 'what is vitamin K?' as well as provide you with information on foods high in vitamin K, primarily on our vitamin K foods list. We will also let you know what vitamin K benefits are besides covering what a vitamin K deficiency is and how it is caused. Furthermore we will let you know how much vitamin K you should be consuming each day in order to keep your vitamin K levels topped up.
Besides information on vitamin K rich foods we have plenty more information on the essential vitamins and minerals that we all need, right here on this site so please check out the menu down the left hand side of the page while you are online as there is plenty of free information on offer.
What is vitamin K?
First of all let us begin by answering the basic question, 'what is vitamin K?'. As the name suggests vitamin K is a vitamin, one of the essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs a regular dose of in order to stay healthy.
The term Vitamin K relates to two natural vitamins known as vitamin K1 and vitamin K2, which are bother fat soluble vitamins. There are K vitamins numbered 3,4 and 5, however these are synthetic and their purposes are not relevant to the information that we are providing on this page.
Vitamin K1 is produced by plants, whereby vitamin K2 is created by bacteria in the large intestine.
We have highlighted the best sources of vitamin K in our list of vitamin K foods and we have also shown why you need vitamin K in our vitamin K benefits section.
Foods with vitamin K in - How much vitamin K each day?
Now that we have highlighted what vitamin K we are going to briefly touch on an important factor, how much vitamin K you need per day. Much like all of the other essential vitamins and minerals that we have listed on this site, your body needs to be able to absorb vitamin K on a regular basis in order to keep it's vitamin K levels up to a safe degree. Men should consume 120 micrograms of vitamin K each day and women should be consuming 90 micrograms of vitamin K per day.
List of foods high in vitamin K
Our next section will more than likely provide the most sought after information, a list of foods high in vitamin K. As you will see there are several natural and tasty vitamin K foods that you should include in your diet on a constant basis in order to ensure that you are never lacking in vitamin K, or any of the other essential vitamins and minerals that they provide for that matter. You will find that several of the foods with vitamin K in that we have listed below are also on several of the other pages on this site, which means that they are good for you in several different ways as they bring you a wealth of nutrients. We have separated the food sources of vitamin K1 and vitamin K2 just to make things more simple.
Vitamin K foods list - Sources of vitamin K1
- Asparagus
- Avocado
- Broccoli
- Brussel Sprouts
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Celery
- Chili powder
- Chinese Broccoli
- Grapes
- Herbs - Most notably fresh Basil and Parsley, dried Thyme, Dried Sage, Dried Basil
- Kale - Recommended, in one cup of cooked kale there is approximately 1,060 mcg of vitamin K
- Kiwi
- Lettuce
- Okra
- Prunes
- Rapini
- Spinach
- Spirulina/Seaweed
- Spring Onions
- Swiss Chard - Recommended, in one cup of boiled Swiss Chard there is approximately 570 mcg of vitamin K
- Turnip greens
Vitamin K foods list - Sources of vitamin K2
- Dairy products - Notably Feta Cheese
- Eggs
- Meat - Notably chicken
We really hope that you have found our list of foods high in vitamin K useful. As we have previously mentioned, the amount of vitamin K that is required per day is rather minimal, just 120 mcg for men and 90 mcg for women. With this in mind you do not need to eat a great deal of the above vitamin K foods in order to get the required amount. However, having many of them in your diet is going to help you in many other ways as they are all rich in various other nutrients, so try not to look at them just as vitamin K rich foods.
Vitamin K foods - Vitamin K benefits
We have explained what vitamin K is and also provided you with a list of foods high in vitamin K, but what are the benefits of vitamin K, why eat foods with vitamin K in? In this next section we are going to explain what can be obtained from keeping your vitamin K levels topped up by consuming vitamin K foods.
Here we have listed the main benefits of eating vitamin K foods:
- Helps the regulation of another essential nutrient calcium, keeping it in the bones and out of the arteries
- Helps against osteoporosis
- Helps against cardiovascular blockages
- Helps to create 4 of the proteins required in order for blood to clot properly
These are all very good reason to make sure you are getting the vitamin K you need from the sources shown in our list of foods high in vitamin K.
Vitamin K deficiency
It is very uncommon for people in good health to experience a vitamin K deficiency. Those at high risk of developing a vitamin K deficiency are newborn babies because their bodies are not yet able to produce the necessary amount of vitamin K.
Adults that are most at risk from lacking in vitamin K are those with intestinal damage, liver problems, inflamed bowel disease, have experienced issue following abdominal surgery, alcoholics and people with cystic fibrosis. Others who have very harsh diets or who do not eat any of the vitamin K foods listed above in our list of foods high in vitamin K, may also be at risk.
Some drugs that can be prescribed by your doctor may also put you in the higher risk category, it is best to check these with your doctor or another medical professional.
Just in case you think you may be suffering from a vitamin K deficiency we have listed vitamin K deficiency symptoms below:
- Anemia
- Bleeding gums
- Coronary heart disease
- Heavy menstrual bleeding
- Nose Bleeds
- Osteoporosis
As you will see in the above list of vitamin K deficiency symptoms, many of these are forms of bleeding. We have already explained in our vitamin K benefits section that one of the main functions of this vitamin is to aid in the clotting of blood. A lack of vitamin K is going to mean that there are not enough proteins in the blood to clot sufficiently and this will lead to subsequent bleeding. Eating foods rich in vitamin K is one way to help prevent this from happening due to replenishing your body's stock of vitamin K.
More than vitamin K rich foods
We trust that you have found what you were looking for on our page covering vitamin K foods. There is much more to our site than just information on vitamin K rich foods, so please take the time to check out some of our other pages while you are online. Besides talking about what vitamin K is we also cover many other important vitamins such as Vitamin D and vitamin B12. If you found our list of foods high in vitamin K helpful then why not check out the many other food lists that we have on this page so that you are armed with all of the information you need in order to keep your body fit and healthy through the most important channel, the diet!
