Osteoporosis: How vitamin K can keep your bones strong
It is well known that green leafy vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, kale and broccoli are healthy foods. But did you know that these vegetables may help keep bones strong? And this isn’t merely because some of them contain calcium, but because they are fantastic sources of vitamin K.
Until recently, vitamin K has been most well known as a fat soluble vitamin that plays an important role in blood clotting. However, researchers have also found that circulating vitamin K blood levels are often low in patients with osteoporosis. While a deficiency of vitamin K is considered rare by conventional medicine, a 2006 study by University of Michigan School of Nursing researchers has found that many women in early menopause may not have enough of the vitamin in their bodies. The study suggests that the generally accepted level of vitamin K in healthy women is inadequate to maintain bone health just at the onset of menopause.
Vitamin K is an integral part of bone mineralisation. According to a study that appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1999, Vitamin K is needed to make a protein that’s essential for bone formation. In the great majority of people, beneficial intestinal bacteria make much of the vitamin K needed for this purpose, which is why you hear so little about this vitamin. But to get enough K, especially to keep bones strong, you also need to …
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