Vitamin K

World's Healthiest Foods rich in

vitamin K

Basic Description

Food
Kale
Spinach
Mustard Greens
Collard Greens
Beet Greens
Swiss Chard
Turnip Greens
Parsley
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts

Cals
36
41
36
63
39
35
29
11
55
56

DRI/DV
1180%
987%
922%
858%
774%
636%
588%
554%
245%
243%

If you've read about vitamins

A, B, C, D, and E, you might
feel like we've missed a few
vitamins as we jump over to
vitamin K. But there are no
vitamins F through J (at least
not yet). Vitamin K is named
after the German word for blood clotting (koagulation). In fact, this
is probably the most common connection that people make with
vitamin Kthey associate this vitamin with the process of blood
clotting. We'll explain more about this function of vitamin K in our
"Role in Health Support" section below. However, it's important to
know that vitamin K makes a variety of unique contributions to our
health, and our knowledge about these contributions has been
expanding in new and unexpected ways.

There are three basic types of vitamin K. Their common names are
K1, K2, and K3.
The K1 form of vitamin K is found in plant foods, and 44 of our
WHFoods are plant foods that serve as excellent, very good, or good
sources of vitamin K! Many of our best sources of this vitamin are
green vegetables (including 16 excellent sources); this makes good
sense since K1 is required for green plants to conduct the process of
photosynthesis. The K2 form of vitamin K is made from K1 and K3

by bacteria and other microorganisms. It can also be made in the

human body through a conversion process involving K1 and K3.
In plant foods, you won't find much preformed K2, unless those plant
foods have been fermented or otherwise transformed by bacteria or
other microorganisms. Certain microorganisms can convert K1 into
K2. A great example is Bacillus natto. This bacterium can convert
K1 into K2 and it is often used in the production of fermented soy
products. In fact, this practice is so common that you will sometimes
find the word "natto" being used to refer to these foods. Fermented
soyfoods on our WHFoods listincluding tempeh and misocan
contain significant amounts of K2. (And as plant foods, they also
naturally contain K1.) Most of our WHFoods animal foods also
contain K2, although the amounts are relatively small and
insufficient to qualify them as excellent, very good, or good sources
of vitamin K.
A third type of vitamin, found preformed in food but in very small
amounts, is menadione, or vitamin K3. We don't yet have good
research on the health role of these small of K3 amounts in food.

Role in Health Support

Blood Clotting
As mentioned in the Description section, vitamin K is perhaps best
known for its role in the blood clotting process. When people hear
the term "blood clot," they might sometimes jump to the conclusion
that a blood clot is bad. But there are many times when it is very
important for our blood to clot. For example, blood clots are
necessary to stop bleeding when our skin gets punctured.
Yet at the same time, people are correct when they say that blood
clotting can cause problems. For example, if the inside of a blood
vessel has become too narrow due to the buildup (over time) of

plaque, this plaque can sometimes rupture and our body may form a
blood clot in order to seal off the ruptured plaque. However, this
blood clot might also end up stopping the flow of blood through the
blood vessel since the blood vessel had become overly narrowed
from the buildup of plaque.
Regardless of the specific situation, vitamin K is necessary for blood
clots to form. The clotting process is very complex, requiring at least
12 proteins to function before the clotting process can be completed.
Four of these protein clotting factors require vitamin K for their
activity.
Luckily, we rarely see vitamin K deficiency lead to impairment in
the clotting process in adults. We see it in newborns because vitamin
K does not efficiently cross the placenta to the fetus, and it can take
several weeks for the fetus to build up dietary stores. We also
occasionally see clotting problems related to vitamin K deficiency in
persons with severe liver or gastrointestinal diseases. But vitamin K
deficiency basically never causes insufficient clotting disorders in
healthy adults.
In contrast to insufficient clotting in healthy adults, we do see
vitamin K deficiency becoming involved in unwanted clotting. This
process once again involves the activity of multiple vitamin Kdependent enzyme systems, most importantly a system called matrix
Gla protein.
It is currently somewhat of an open question how important vitamin
K is to the progression of clot formation and heart disease.
Researchers have sometimes, but not consistently, been able to
correlate low vitamin K intake with increased risk of heart disease.
One problem in interpreting this research, however, is separating out
the effect of healthy foods from the nutrients they contain. Even
casual readers of this site are probably aware that the same green
leafy vegetables that are our richest sources of vitamin K1 are also

among the best sources of many other heart-protecting nutrients.

Included in this heart-protective list from green leafy vegetables
would be the vitamins A (in the form of carotenoids), C, E and B6,
the minerals potassium and magnesium, and dietary fiber.
Researchers have attempted to answer this question by giving
vitamin K in pill form at amounts similar to those found in the diet.
Over a three-year period, 500 mcg of vitamin Kabout the amount
found in one serving of mustard greenswas associated with slightly
slower progression of hardening of the arteries of the heart.
Given the preliminary and somewhat contradictory nature of this
research, we would characterize the association between diets high in
vitamin K and protection against coronary artery disease to be
plausible, but still unproven.

Bone Health
Vitamin K is a fascinating nutrient with respect to bone health, and
unlike some of the open-ended questions related to clotting,
knowledge about the role of vitamin K nourishment in bone support
is fairly well-established. Individuals who are vitamin K deficient
have repeatedly been shown to have a greater risk of fracture. In
addition, for women who have passed through menopause and have
started to experience unwanted bone loss, vitamin K has clearly been
shown to help prevent future fractures.
Bone support involves different forms of vitamin K
Research has shown that our bone cells take up vitamin K in the form
of K1 as well as K2, suggesting that these forms of the vitamin may
play different roles in the health of our bone. In the case of K2,
researchers have also become interested in two particular subtypes of
K2 called MK-4 and MK-7, which appear to be uptaken by our bone
cells in preference to other subtypes. In fact, research on bone health
is partly responsible for getting researchers more and more interested
in the whole issue of vitamin K2 subtypes. Vitamin K2 contains a
chemical "tail" composed of repeating units called prenyl units. The

most common forms of K2 contain either 4,5,7,8, or 9 prenyl units,

and are therefore referred to as MK-4, MK-5, MK-7, MK-8, and
MK-9. (The letter "M" in "MK" refers to "menaquinone"the
scientific name for the K2and the "K" refers to the common name
of vitamin K.) While human diets usually consist of about 10-25%
K2, the proportion of these different K2 forms can vary widely.
Fermented soy foods (mentioned earlier in this article as an
important source of K2) tend to have greater amounts of MK-7.
Cheese may have greater amounts of MK-8 and MK-9. However, in
the average U.S. diet, MK-4 typically accounts for about one-third or
more of all K2 due to its presence in eggs and meats.
How bone support works
The bone-related benefits of vitamin K appear to depend on at least
two basic mechanisms. The first of these mechanisms involves a type
of bone cell called osteoclasts. Osteoclasts are bone cells in charge of
bone demineralizationthey help take minerals out of the bone and
make them available for other body functions. While the activity of
these cells is important for proper health, we do not want too many
osteoclasts (or too much activity by osteoclasts) since those
imbalances would mean too much demineralization of bone. Vitamin
K helps our body keep this process in check. The MK-4 form of
vitamin K2 (also called menatetrenone) is known to block formation
of too many osteoclasts, and perhaps also to initiate their
programmed cell death (a process called apoptosis).
A second mechanism involves the role of vitamin K in a process
called carboxylation. (This process is the same one discussed earlier
in relationship to the stickiness of clotting factors required for proper
blood clotting.) For our bones to be optimally healthy, one of the
proteins found in bonea protein called osteocalcinneeds to be
chemically altered through the process of carboxylation. (Osteocalcin
is not just any typical bone protein. It is a protein especially linked to
our bone mineral density (BMD), and for this reason, it often
measured in our blood when doctors are seeking to determine the
health of our bone.) When too few of the osteocalcin proteins in our

bone are carboxylated, our bones have increased risk for fracture.
This unwanted risk appears to be particularly important with respect
to hip fracture. Scientists refer to this bone problem as a problem
involving "undercarboxylated osteocalcin" and they have determined
that vitamin K can greatly improve the situation. Since vitamin K is
required for proper activity of the carboxylase enzyme that allows
carboxylation of the osteocalcin proteins in our bone, vitamin K can
help restore these bone proteins to their proper place in our bone
structure and strengthen the composition of the bone. In clinical
studies, both K1 and K2 forms of vitamin K appear to play a role in
osteocalcin carboxylation. Some studies show the K2 form (and
specifically MK-4) to be especially helpful in postmenopausal bone
protection.
Whether provided by the diet in the form of K1 or K2, this vitamin is
becoming more and more focal in research on bone protection. Low
levels of vitamin K intake are emerging as dietary risk factors for
osteoporosis. Researchers have shown that increasing dietary vitamin
K intake by 100 mcg per dayroughly doubling the average
American adult intake for a time period of one full yearcan lead to
a significant increase in bone density in post-menopausal women.
Low levels of vitamin K have also been associated with increased
risk of arthritis. Low activity of vitamin K-dependent proteins inside
the joints has been suggested as a likely mechanism for this increased
risk.

Other Potential Health Benefits

Not suprisingly based on its role in photosynthesis and movement of
electrons to generate energy, vitamin K may function as an important
antioxidant nutrient especially in certain chemical forms (called
"reduced" forms). In older men, vitamin K has been shown to help
improve insulin resistance. In preliminary lab and animal studies,
vitamin K has been investigated as a critical nutrient for protecting
cells that line blood vessels, including both veins and arteries.

Summary of Food Sources

Both plant and animal foods can provide us with significant amounts
of vitamin K. Fresh green vegetables are our most steadfast source of
K1. At WHFoods, 16 of our green vegetables rank as excellent
sources for this vitamin. Many of our Herbs & Spicesincluding
parsley, basil, cilantro, sage, oregano and black pepperalso provide
excellent amounts of vitamin K.
One serving of any food noted above will provide you with at least
10% of your daily vitamin K needs. In the case of kaleour top
source of vitamin Ka 1-cup serving will provide you with over
1,000 micrograms, which is approximately 10 times the
recommended minimum daily amount! Since the National Academy
of Sciences has chosen not to set a maximal recommended intake
level (Tolerable Upper Limit, or UL) based on available research,
you will not be exceeding a recommended maximum amount even
with ten times the minimum requirement (or greater amounts).
Outside of the vegetable family, you will find kiwifruit, blueberries,
prunes, and grapes amount the most vitamin K-rich fruit sources, and
soybeans and miso as two good legume sources. As mentioned
earlier, most of our featured animal foodsincluding pasture-raised
eggs, pasture-raised chicken, grass-fed beef, grass-fed lamb, grassfed cheese, and grass-fed cow's milkcontain measurable amounts
of vitamin K, as do shrimp, sardines, tuna, and salmon.
As you can see, nearly half of our WHFoods (44/100) rank as good,
very good, or excellent sources of vitamin K. Your meal
combinations for achieving ample vitamin K here are extensive. Still,
as a fallback source for vitamin K1, you would most likely want to
turn to dark green leafy vegetables since they typically provide 5001,000 micrograms per serving. For vitamin K2, you would mostly

likely want to turn to fermented plant foods (like miso or tempeh) or

animal foods. As mentioned earlier, fermented plant foods and
animal foods feature different subtypes of vitamin K2. Remember,
however, that researchers know of no hard and fast requirement for
consuming any set amount of preformed K2 from your meal plan
since the cells of your body are able to take K1 and convert it into
K2. This provides you with a lot of flexibility in choosing among the
40+ WHFoods that are ranked sources of this vitamin.
Common name

Vitamin K1

Vitamin K2

Vitamin K3

Scientific name

phylloquinones

menaquinones

menadiones

Food sources

plant foods,
especially dark
green leafy
vegetables

meats, eggs, dairy,

fish, fermented plant
foods, fermented
animal foods

not known to be
provided in
substantial, naturally
occurring amounts in
food

Nutrient Rating Chart

Introduction to Nutrient Rating System Chart
In order to better help you identify foods that feature a high
concentration of nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a
Food Rating System. This system allows us to highlight the foods
that are especially rich in particular nutrients. The following chart
shows the World's Healthiest Foods that are either an excellent, very
good, or good source of vitamin K. Next to each food name, you'll
find the serving size we used to calculate the food's nutrient
composition, the calories contained in the serving, the amount of
vitamin K contained in one serving size of the food, the percent
Daily Value (DV%) that this amount represents, the nutrient density
that we calculated for this food and nutrient, and the rating we
established in our rating system. For most of our nutrient ratings, we
adopted the government standards for food labeling that are found in
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "Reference Values for
Nutrition Labeling." Read more background information and details
of our rating system.

World's Healthiest Foods ranked as quality sources of

vitamin K

Food

Serving
Size
1 cup
1 cup

Kale
Spinach
Mustard
1 cup
Greens
Collard Greens
1 cup
Beet Greens
1 cup
Swiss Chard
1 cup
Turnip Greens
1 cup
Parsley
0.50 cup
Broccoli
1 cup
Brussels
1 cup
Sprouts
Romaine
2 cups
Lettuce
Asparagus
1 cup
Basil
0.50 cup
Cabbage
1 cup
Bok Choy
1 cup
Celery
1 cup
Kiwifruit
1 2 inches
Leeks
1 cup
Cilantro
0.50 cup
Sage
2 tsp
Green Beans
1 cup
Cauliflower
1 cup
Cucumber
1 cup
Tomatoes
1 cup
Oregano
2 tsp
Black Pepper
2 tsp

World's
Healthiest
Amount DRI/DV Nutrient
Foods
Cals (mcg)
(%) Density
Rating
36.4 1062.10 1180
583.6
excellent
41.4 888.48
987
429.2
excellent
36.4 829.78

922

455.9

excellent

62.7
38.9
35.0
28.8
10.9
54.6

772.54
696.96
572.77
529.34
498.56
220.12

858
774
636
588
554
245

246.4
358.5
327.3
367.6
911.4
80.6

excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent

56.2 218.87

243

77.9

excellent

16.0 96.35

107

120.6

excellent

39.6
4.9
43.5
20.4
16.2
42.1
32.2
1.8
4.4
43.8
28.5
15.6
32.4
5.3
14.6

101
98
79
64
33
31
29
28
27
22
19
19
16
14
11

46.0
360.4
32.8
56.7
36.6
13.2
16.4
269.6
108.8
9.1
12.0
21.9
8.8
46.9
13.0

excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent
excellent

91.08
87.94
71.40
57.80
29.59
27.81
26.42
24.80
24.00
20.00
17.11
17.06
14.22
12.43
9.49

Green Peas
1 cup
Blueberries
1 cup
Grapes
1 cup
Carrots
1 cup
Summer
1 cup
Squash
Cloves
2 tsp
Chili Peppers
2 tsp
Soybeans
1 cup
Avocado
1 cup
Raspberries
1 cup
Winter Squash
1 cup
Pear
1 medium
Cranberries
1 cup
Miso
1 TBS
Bell Peppers
1 cup
1 2-1/8
Plum
inches
Cantaloupe
1 cup
Eggplant
1 cup

World's Healthiest
Foods Rating
excellent
very good
good

115.7
84.4
104.2
50.0

35.68
28.56
22.05
16.10

40
32
25
18

6.2
6.8
4.2
6.4

very good
very good
very good
very good

36.0

6.30

3.5

very good

11.5
15.2
297.6
240.0
64.0
75.8
101.5
46.0
34.2
28.5

5.96
5.71
33.02
31.50
9.59
9.02
7.83
5.10
5.04
4.51

7
6
37
35
11
10
9
6
6
5

10.4
7.5
2.2
2.6
3.0
2.4
1.5
2.2
2.9
3.2

very good
very good
good
good
good
good
good
good
good
good

30.4

4.22

2.8

good

54.4
34.6

4.00
2.87

4
3

1.5
1.7

good
good

Rule
DRI/DV>=75% OR
Density>=7.6 AND DRI/DV>=10%
DRI/DV>=50% OR
Density>=3.4 AND DRI/DV>=5%
DRI/DV>=25% OR
Density>=1.5 AND DRI/DV>=2.5%

Impact of Cooking, Storage and Processing

Vitamin K is a fairly stable nutrient to most types of processing.
Levels go down only slightly with common cooking techniques and
tend to stay stable with storage.

Vitamin K in oils, but probably not in vegetables, is reduced by

exposure to light. This is one reason, but certainly not the only one,
that we recommend storing oils in dark areas and in opaque, sealed
containers.
The hydrogenation process that is used to stabilize and solidify liquid
fats damages a significant amount of the vitamin K content. This is
just one of many reasons why we believe that hydrogenated fats
should be avoided.

Risk of Dietary Deficiency

Average intake of vitamin K for U.S. adults has been estimated at
approximately 80-85 micrograms per day, or about 70-90% of
recommended intake. At WHFoods, we adopted the DRI standard for
women 19 years and older of 90 micrograms per day as the one we
use in our Nutrient Rating Charts, and on average, U.S. adults fall
below this amount. In terms of age groups, adolescents and young
adults have more risk of dietary deficiency than older adults, and
men have more risk of deficiency than women, perhaps in part
because the DRI for men age 19 years and older is 120 micrograms,
or one-third higher than the DRI for women.
In light of the many foods that are rich in vitamin Kespecially
green vegetablesthese averages tell us that on average, we are
consuming very few green vegetables. For example, a single one-cup
serving or broccoli each day would more than double our average
vitamin K intake.
As described above, it would not take many food changes to help us
move from our average marginal intake of vitamin K to a more
optimal level. Increasing our intake of the World's Healthiest Foods
would be a great way to make this shift, especially if green
vegetables were given center stage.

Other Circumstances that Might

Contribute to Deficiency
Apart from low dietary intake, the most common reason to see
symptoms of vitamin K deficiency at least related to blood clotting
involves use of medications that deliberately block the ability of
vitamin K to help make blood clotting proteins. For people using
these medications, there are specific medical reasons for trying to
reduce vitamin K's ability in this regard. Anyone taking anticoagulant medications should talk to their doctor about dietary intake
of vitamin K and how to coordinate it with their overall health goals.
There are a few disease states that can interfere with vitamin K
nutrition or utilization. For instance, any digestive disease that
impairs absorption of fat-soluble nutrients may impair vitamin K
uptake from foods. End-stage liver disease can also lead to symptoms
of vitamin K deficiency. However, these problems are once again
medical in nature, rather than lifestyle oriented and widely
encountered by the general public.

Relationship with Other Nutrients

Both vitamin A and vitamin E can compete for absorption with
vitamin K. To our knowledge, however, this has only been reported
with mega-dose supplementation, not with dietary intake. As such,
you probably do not need to eat in a certain pattern to protect your
vitamin K nutrition, and you can enjoy the delicious taste of foods
that are rich in all of these important nutrients.
Vitamin K works with the other nutrients important to bone health
calcium, vitamin D, and magnesiumto ensure that your skeleton
stays strong. A deficiency of any of these nutrients can lead to
problems that cannot be fully undone by focusing on other nutrients
in the list.

Risk of Dietary Toxicity

To our knowledge, there has never been a report of a person
consuming a toxic dose of vitamin K from food, unless that person
was taking a prescription medication specifically designed to affect
vitamin K activity. Given the strong track record of safety, the
National Academy of Sciences has chosen not to establish a
Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for vitamin K. Further evidence
for the safety of dietary vitamin K comes from research studies
where doses of vitamin K at 500 times the Dietary Reference Intake
(DRI) level did not lead to observable toxicity.
The absence of a recommended maximum intake level is good news
for anyone who enjoys vegetable-rich meals and especially those
meals containing or more of our 44 top-ranked vitamin K-containing
vegetables. Two or three of these vegetables can easily provide 10
times the WHFoods recommended intake amount of 90 micrograms.
However, just to reiterate a point we made earlier in this section: risk
of excessive vitamin K intake still applies to individuals who are
taking prescription medications designed to regulate the activity of
vitamin K, and any individual in this category should discuss dietary
vitamin K intake with their healthcare provider.

Disease Checklist

Blood clotting disorders

Osteoporosis
Coronary artery disease
Cancer
Liver disease
Celiac disease
Crohn's disease
Ulcerative colitis
Cystic fibrosis

Public Health Recommendations

In 2001, the National Academy of Sciences released a set of Dietary
Reference Intakes (DRI) for vitamin K. These included a set of age
and gender specific Adequate Intake Levels (AI) that are summarized
in the following chart:

0-6 months: 2 mcg

6-12 months: 2.5 mcg
1-3 years: 30 mcg
4-8 years: 55 mcg
9-13 years: 60 mcg
14-18 years: 75 mcg
19+ years, female: 90 mcg
19+ years, male: 120 mcg
Pregnant or lactating women, 14-18 years: 75 mcg
Pregnant or lactating women, 19+ years: 90 mcg

The 2001 vitamin K DRIs did not include any Tolerable Upper
IntakeLevels (ULs). We are not aware of any other public health
organization that has issued a maximum level for dietary intake of
vitamin K.
The Daily Value (DV) for vitamin K is 80 micrograms. This is the
value that you'll see on food and supplement labels.
At WHFoods, we selected the DRI of 90 micrograms for women
ages 19 and above as our recommended daily intake level.

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Source: http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=112