It’s 2024Â and in the past few years, Vitamin K has become very popular because it has many important health benefits, that affect your brain, heart and bones.
Today I’ll discuss the 5 primary benefits of Vitamin K and why you should consider taking it.
I’ll also list the top 5 foods that are high in Vitamin K if you don’t want to take the supplemental form in a pill.
Personally, I’ve been taking Vitamin K with my vitamin D every morning for over 10+ years now. These two “fat-soluble” vitamins should be taken together because there’s a synergistic effect.
I take Perfect Vitamin D+K because it contains both at the correct dose and form. Just one pill daily and you’re set.
Benefits Of Vitamin K
Now, Vitamin K has many health benefits. Two of the most important and popular ones are:
- Promoting healthy bones. It strengthens your bones by helping make osteocalcin, which helps prevent low bone density and thus, can help improve bone density. Which is very important as we age.
- Assists with blood clotting. One of vitamin K’s most important jobs is to make four of the 13 proteins needed for blood clotting. Blood clots stop your injuries or wounds from bleeding so they can heal.
Basically, if your blood wouldn’t clot, you would bleed to death in an accident.
However, that’s just the start. Vitamin K also helps protect your mind and cognition. It also helps protect the heart, blood vessels, and arteries.
Studies have shown that it may help break down and reduce plaque buildup in the arteries. This means better blood flow and circulation.
One of the key benefits of Vitamin K is that it helps promote healthy calcium balance. This means more in your bones and less in your arteries.
Simply stated, it helps support bone, cognitive, and heart health.
As a side warning, if you are currently taking blood-thinning drugs, such as warfarin (Coumadin®) or anticoagulant medication, please first speak to your doctor before taking Vitamin K.
5 Best Foods
Now that we know the primary benefits of Vitamin K, let’s talk about the 5 best foods that are the highest in Vitamin K.
- Kale: 535 mcg for ½ cup, cooked
- Collard Greens: 530 mcg for ½ cup, cooked
- Spinach: 444 mcg for ½ cup, cooked
- Turnip Greens: 425 mcg for ½ cup, cooked
- Brussels Sprouts: 150 mcg for ½ cup, cooked
Unfortunately, these are all foods that I do NOT eat regularly. So, shame on me!!!
How Much Daily Vitamin K Do You Need?
As far as how much should you eat and thus, how much vitamin K do you need daily? Luckily, it’s not much.
The daily adult dose is between 50-150 mcg. So, the average dose is about 100 mcg daily.
Remember, that’s MICRO-gram, not milligrams.
Because it is fat-soluble, it can be stored in the body. Thus, you don’t have to take it daily.
So, you can eat ½ cup of kale or spinach, 2-3x a week and you’re set.
Or, if you don’t like any of the previously mentioned vegetables, then just take a supplement of 50-100 mcg daily. The most absorbable form is K2
Like I said earlier, I’ve been taking Perfect Vitamin D&K for over a decade.
As we get older, improving your mind, brain, arteries, blood flow and bones is super important, so please consider adding both Vitamin D and K to your daily supplement plan.
My Favorite Vitamin For A Healthy Immune System
The above is a great start. Unfortunately, most people just don't have the time or money to implement the above immune-boosting tactics.
However, there is ONE vitamin that is super powerful at promoting a healthy immune system. Sadly, most of us are deficient in this vitamin!...
Luckily, just one pill a day can dramatically help strengthen and support your immunity, skin, hair, mood and brain function.