Vitamin K Deficiency: How Modern Diets Affect Blood Clotting and Bone Health

Vitamin K Latest News

A 347% increase has been witnessed in the number of newborns suffering from the Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding (VKDB) in the US between 2017 and 2025, a new study has found.

About Vitamin K

• It is a fat-soluble vitamin that comes in two forms. 
  • The main type is called phylloquinone (Vitamin K1), found in green leafy vegetables like collard greens, kale, and spinach. 
  • The other type, menaquinones (Vitamin K2), are found in some animal foods and fermented foods. 
    • Menaquinones can also be produced by bacteria in the human body.
• Function: 
  • Vitamin K is known as the clotting vitamin. 
  • The body needs vitamin K to make certain proteins in the liver that cause blood to clot. These proteins are called clotting factors.  
  • Prothrombin is a vitamin K-dependent protein directly involved with blood clotting. 
  • Vitamin K helps maintain strong bones in older adults. Osteocalcin is a protein that requires vitamin K to produce healthy bone tissue. 
  • Researchers suggest that this vitamin has other benefits too, such as easing morning sickness and protecting cognitive functions, including thinking, memory, learning, and organizing skills. 
  • It may also help protect heart health. 
• Your body stores vitamin K in the liver and other body tissues, including the brain, heart, pancreas, and bone. 
• It is broken down very quickly and excreted in urine or stool. 
• Because of this, it rarely reaches toxic levels in the body even with high intakes, as may sometimes occur with other fat-soluble vitamins.
• Vitamin K deficiency in adults is rare but may occur in people taking medications that block vitamin K metabolism, such as antibiotics, or in those with conditions that cause malabsorption of food and nutrients. 

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What is Vitamin K Deficiency Bleeding (VKDB)?

• It is also known as haemorrhagic disease of the newborn. 
• This is a bleeding disorder caused in babies when they don’t have enough vitamin K to help their blood to clot.
• Newborns have low levels of vitamin K due to low amounts being transferred across the placenta during pregnancy, low amounts in breast milk, and not having enough gut bacteria to create vitamin K initially.
• The limited amount of blood clotting proteins at birth increases the risk of bleeding in infants if they are not given vitamin K supplements.  
• The bleeding can occur anywhere on the inside or outside of the body. When the bleeding occurs inside the body, it can be difficult to notice. 
• Commonly, a baby with VKDB will have bleeding into their intestines or into their brain, which can lead to brain damage and even death. 
• Infants who do not receive the vitamin K shot at birth can develop VKDB at any time up to 6 months of age.

News: ET