What Does Vitamin K Do For The Body?

Vitamin K makes proteins that are essential for blood clotting and the building of bones. Prothrombin is a vitamin K-dependent protein directly involved with blood clotting. Osteocalcin is another protein that requires vitamin K to produce healthy bone tissue.

How Do I Get Vitamin K?  

Spinach, kale, and other leafy greens are good food sources for Vitamin K. Soybeans and canola oil as well as various fermented foods and various supplements also contain Vitamin K. 

What Are Blood Clots?

Blood clots are gel-like clumps of blood. They are the body's crucial response to an injury or cut, as they form a seal around the injured blood vessel, which stops bleeding.

There are some blood clots, however that form without a cut or an injury. These blood clots are dangerous and do not dissolve on their own. They can cause a stroke in the brain and in the heart, a heart attack. If the blood clot occurs in a deep vein in the legs, it is called Deep Vein Thrombosis or DVT. Pulmonary embolisms and DVT kill about 100,000 Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

You can avoid blood clots by taking these simple measures.

• Quit Smoking
• Get the body to move with regular exercise
• Eat a healthy and well-balanced diet
• Stay hydrated
• Maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding sedentary behaviors can help ward off Deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Manage your Vitamin K Levels

Vitamin K promotes blood clotting. While biologists have insisted that vitamin K doesn’t cause “too much clotting” there have been no studies in African Americans to confirm this. Given the lack of vitamin K deficiency in the US, there is no reason for an African American to take added vitamin K.

Studies have shown that African Americans are at a higher risk for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) than people of other races. Black people have 30% to 60% higher rates of DVT than white people.

GNetX Sequence Multivitamins were developed with the health needs of African Americans in mind, they do not contain vitamin K in order to avoid a potentially increased risk of blood clots. Because sometimes less is actually more. 

Here is a podcast discussing blood clots and vitamin K.