Getting the O.K.

Getting the O.K.

Q: I'd like to start taking vitamin K, but I don't have a natural food store close by and none of the pharmacies near me carry it. Can I get it from food sources instead? If so, which foods?

JVW: Even though vitamin K is essential to life and quite safe in its natural forms, supplements of it are very hard to find. That's probably because most people only have a vague idea about what the vitamin can do so there's very little demand.

If you have heard of vitamin K before, it probably had something to do with blood clotting. In fact, Drs. Henrik C.P. Dam (Denmark) and Edward A. Doisy (United States) were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1943 for original research uncovering vitamin K's functions in blood clotting. Since then, however, research has shown numerous other benefits, ranging from tooth decay to antiaging.

The best sources of dietary vitamin K are green vegetables, especially kale, spinach, endive, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and lettuce. Soybean oil and canola oil contain the largest amounts not found in green vegetables, with olive oil a distant third. Whole soybeans and avocadoes contain small amounts too, but in general, grains, meats, fish, fruits, nuts, seeds, oils, and non-green vegetables (corn, beets, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, etc.) contain very little vitamin K.

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