Vitamin K Examined
If you have ever been asked where Popeye gets his strength, most people will respond with the common answer spinach. Now, when you think about it, when you look at the question a little closer spinach is not really the complete answer. That is, there is something in spinach that is the active ingredient to delivering all those super nutrients that give Popeye the ability to knock Bluto out. That secret ingredient is not anything particularly magical. No, it is vitamin K, which is the primary vitamin food in leafy green vegetables such as spinach and lettuce and others of a similar ilk.
Blood Clotting
While no one will take vitamin K and achieve super powered strength. The intake of vitamin K does have some incredibly important effects that most people take for granted until the importance of the intake of the vitamin is actually pointed out to them. Basically, vitamin K greatly enhances a person's blood the ability to clot. That is, when you are cut it is the clotting that stops the bleeding from continuing out of control. Needless to say, proper blood clotting is critical to a healthy life and any vitamin that properly aids in the functioning of proper blood clotting will be a critical vitamin to intake naturally or in a supplement form.
The Elderly
In addition to the primary function of providing the body with the ability to clot blood, vitamin K is believed to help strengthen bone density in the elderly. If there were one caveat about this notion, it would be the fact that this is not a clinically proven fact. That is, there is still some doubt about how effective vitamin K is in this regard as there has not been empirical proof to come out of the lab on this subject. Of course, it would not hurt to take this vitamin if one were looking for help in strengthening bone density.
Needless to say, this is a critically important vitamin for one's health although it pales in comparison in terms of the popularity of other vitamins. In a way, vitamin K remains one of the less popular vitamins mainly because people are not entirely familiar with just how important a vitamin it is. When people do realize how critical and important it is to optimal health and body functioning a certain increased respect is usually the result. Then, they start reaching for the food sources that contain it.
