What is vitamin K?
Vitamin K is basically a generic term for the vitamins K1 and K2. It is fat-soluble and occurs as K1 (also phylloquinone) in vegetable and as K2 (also menaquinone) in animal food. In our body, vitamin K enters the digestive tract together with fats, where it is bound by bile acids and then absorbed in the intestine. Via our lymphatic system, vitamin K reaches the liver for storage. The vitamin is excreted via urine and bile.
What function does vitamin K have in the body?
On the one hand, vitamin K contributes significantly to blood clotting. In this context, it assumes a role as a coenzyme and helps in the production of coagulation factors that are required for coagulation processes to take place at all – ultimately contributing to hemostasis. On the other hand, vitamin K also plays a major role in bone metabolism.
In this context, it is involved in the synthesis of proteins in our bone cells. These include the calcium-binding proteins osteocalcin, MGP and protein S. Roughly speaking, vitamin K ensures that these proteins are activated and can then perform their functions. There are studies that indicate that a reduced vitamin K level and correspondingly high levels of uncarboxylated osteocalcin (the result of too little vitamin K) lead to an increased risk of bone fractures.
However, further clinical studies still have to prove this sufficiently. Since vitamin K is among other things in connection with the production of MGP, its importance for the health of heart & circulation is also increasingly discussed in research. In this context, the vitamin may possibly help to prevent the calcification of tissue and vessels. At the current state of research, it can be said that vitamin K shows great promise in terms of vascular calcification and the risk of developing coronary heart disease. However, researchers are also calling for more and larger clinical studies to confirm such observations.
