Vitamin K Foods

Vitamin K, like all the other vitamins, plays an important role in your body. Vitamin K is needed by the human body to clot blood in case of an injury. If your body is deficient in vitamin K, your blood will just not clot and you will bleed a lot in case of an injury. Another important function of the vitamin K is the maintenance of bones in the body. It also absorbs the calcium from the food. Vitamin K is essential if you are suffering from osteoporosis. Vitamin K also helps to prevent the hardening of the arteries and helps in some treatments for cancer. With so many vitamin K benefits and the importance of vitamin K, it is necessary to include vitamin K in the diet. This article centers around the vitamin K foods that need to be included in your diet in order to get your dose of this essential vitamin. Let's look into the list of vitamin K foods in detail.

High Vitamin K Foods

Mentioned below are some high vitamin k foods that can be included in the daily diet. A point to be noted is that vitamin K is a fat soluble vitamin, hence avoid adding excessive vitamin K in the diet. It is necessary to maintain a balance.

Cauliflower
Cauliflower is a good source of vitamin K. One cup of cauliflower covers about 20% of the daily requirements of the body. The vitamin K in cauliflower provides the body with anti-inflammatory benefits. It can be cooked in several recipes and experts recommend cauliflower, at least thrice a week.

Spinach
Spinach is one of the vitamin K rich foods. With one cup of fresh spinach, you can get up to 200% of your daily requirement of vitamin K. This vitamin prevents excessive activation of the cells that are responsible for breaking down the bone. It also helps in the release of osteocalcin which is an important protein in the bones. This wonderful leafy vegetable can be used in a number of recipes and also in soups and salads.

Broccoli
Broccoli is one of the vitamin K foods. Steamed broccoli is a very good source of vitamin K as it covers almost 194% of the daily requirements. One cup of broccoli is sufficient for an adult. This can either be eaten steamed or could be a part of any other recipe.

Parsley
Vitamin K foods are necessary to reduce the risk of hip fractures. Daily consumption of food containing vitamin K is very important. By consuming about half a cup of parsley, you can get almost 75% of the daily requirements of the body. An interesting fact to note is that the vitamin K in parsley doubles when the parsley is cooked.

Vitamin K Foods List

Mentioned below is a list of vitamin K foods that can be used in addition to the above foods.

• Dandelion Greens
• Turnip Greens
• Beet Greens
• Kale
• Asparagus
• Cabbage
• Lettuce
• Okra
• Onions
• Peas
• Celery
• Thyme
• Milk
• Liver
• Plums
• Yogurt
• Prunes

Vitamin K Foods to Avoid While on Coumadin

Coumadin (warfarin) is a medicine that is prescribed for thinning of blood. It is used in preventing heart attacks and blood clots in the arteries. If you are on coumadin, it is recommended that you do not eat a lot of foods high in vitamin K as the vitamin K in foods, makes the medicine ineffective. Hence, a balance between vitamin K and warfarin is necessary. The following foods containing vitamin K should be avoided.

• Kale
• Spinach
• Turnip Greens
• Liver
• Brussels Sprouts
• Cranberries
• Swiss Chard
• Mustard Greens

As you can see from the above there are several vitamin K foods and the vitamin k content of foods is necessary for the proper functioning of your body. All these vitamin k food sources are easily available and they can easily form a part of your daily diet. However, do not go overboard nor reduce the vitamin K consumption. Keep the consumption balanced so that you get the daily dose of this much-needed vitamin.