Vitamin K Support - Eat Green!

In a society that uses medications and supplements to promote health, the message of whole, fresh foods for vitamin and mineral support often appears limited or inadequate. The truth is that without a diet based on consuming more plant foods, those individual supplements and medications will not be able to work optimally, often requiring additional prescriptive intervention and cascading side effects. 

Your health is dependent on your food choices!

There are two supplements I recommend most often to my clients: a whole food based supplement called Juice Plus and Vitamin D3 (during the darker months of fall through spring) as vitamin D, not really a vitamin but a hormone, is limited in the food supply. Vitamin D is best "consumed" from sunshine. Learn more...

Recent research, however, is finding that vitamin D3 needs the support of nutrients like calcium, magnesium and vitamin K2 for best absorption into bones. A recent article by Dr. Mercola, What You Need to Know About Vitamin K2, D and Calcium explains these findings in an interview with Kate Rheaume-Bleue, ND author of Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox. 

The highlights from this article and interview include:

• Vitamin K2 is an important fat-soluble vitamin that plays critical roles in protecting your heart and brain, and building strong bones. It also plays an important role in cancer protection.

• The biological role of vitamin K2 is to help move calcium into the proper areas in your body, such as your bones and teeth. It also helps remove calcium from areas where it shouldn’t be, such as in your arteries and soft tissues.

• The optimal amounts of vitamin K2 are still under investigation, but it seems likely that 180 to 200 micrograms of vitamin K2 might be enough to activate your body’s K2-dependent proteins to shuttle calcium to the proper areas.

• If you take oral vitamin D, you also need to take supplemental vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 deficiency is actually what produces the symptoms of vitamin D toxicity, which includes inappropriate calcification that can lead to hardening of your arteries.

• If you take a calcium supplement, it’s important to maintain the proper balance between calcium, vitamin K2, vitamin D, and magnesium. Lack of balance between these nutrients is why calcium supplements have become associated with increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

Whole, fresh food remains the best source for obtaining the required vitamins, minerals, fiber and micronutrients needed by your body for good health. Specifically leafy greens, sea vegetables and spirulina are good sources for consuming vitamin K, calcium and magnesium. 

For the health of your bones, brain and cardiovascular system, eat green every day!