Vitamin K key to disease of advanced age

Vitamins have been discovered from the diseases that their deficiencies cause. A lack of vitamin C leads to scurvy. A lack of vitamin D leads to rickets. A lack of vitamin K leads to bleeding.

Over the last few decades secondary purposes for vitamins have been discovered. So vitamin C is not just good for formation and repair of collagen, the substance that is the foundation of skin, ligaments, cartilage, vertebral discs, joint linings, capillary walls, and the bones and teeth. It is secondarily good as an antioxidant protecting the body from free radicals which can cause heart disease and cancer.

Vitamin K is now revealing its hidden talents and it appears that as people age their need for vitamin K increases. Many of the diseases of old age are related to a shortage of this key nutrient.

The first function for vitamin K is in the liver where it is essential for blood clotting factors. Lack of vitamin K can lead to uncontrolled bleeding and death. After going to the liver, vitamin K travels to other non-hepatic tissues. Poor vitamin K levels can lead to rapid bone loss, artery calcification, and increased risk for developing cancer. The conditions all compound with age. New studies from NattoPharma show that the aging population is severely deficient in vitamin K and it leaves them open to osteoporotic hip fractures and a two-fold risk for cardiovascular death as a result.

Increasing intake of vitamin K with age could be key for many of the ailments of the elderly.

Source: MenaQ7, Medical News Today