dysbiosis

Vitamin K, the “forgotten” vitamin, is actually a mixture of two natural forms: K1 and K2. There are synthetic forms: K3 – K5 and it may appear that these can be somewhat toxic. Vitamin K was identified in 1929 by Danish scientist Henrik Dam. He found deficiency of vitamin K caused spontaneous hemorrhages (bleeding) and restoring levels of K returned the blood to normal. It was named vitamin K, from the German word Koagulation (clotting); nothing to do with the sequence of letters starting A, B, C, D, etc. Warfarin (Coumadin®) is an anticoagulant drug that works by inhibiting normal vitamin K function in the body. But the price for doing that is very high, as we shall see. Vitamin K was also called phylloquinone or phytomenadione. It is synthesized by plants, is found in green leafy vegetables, and can be found in soybean oil. Well, I learned about that over 40 years ago in med school. But knowledge has progressed by leaps and bounds since then.

Vitamin K, the “forgotten” vitamin, is actually a mixture of two natural forms: K1 and K2. There are synthetic forms: K3 – K5 and it may appear that these can be somewhat toxic. Vitamin K was identified in 1929 by Danish scientist Henrik Dam. He found deficiency of vitamin K caused spontaneous hemorrhages (bleeding) and restoring levels of K returned the blood to normal. It was named vitamin K, from the German word Koagulation (clotting); nothing to do with the sequence of letters starting A, B, C, D, etc. Warfarin (Coumadin®) is an anticoagulant drug that works by inhibiting normal vitamin K function in the body. But the price for doing that is very high, as we shall see. Vitamin K was also called phylloquinone or phytomenadione. It is synthesized by plants, is found in green leafy vegetables, and can be found in soybean oil. Well, I learned about that over 40 years ago in med school. But knowledge has progressed by leaps and bounds since then.

The hidden cause of weight gain? Have we been missing something all these years? Obviously, the main cause of weight gain is over-eating. But is there something behind that—something driving the overeating—that nobody has noticed? I think so—and now people are beginning to recognize its importance. Other Causes We know that MSG in food is addictive and causes people to over eat. We know that eating carbs is highly addictive, with people being driven by blood sugar spikes, followed by a drop in blood sugar. Refined carbs are the worst. A few of us pioneers back in the 70s and 80s discovered that food addiction is often related to food allergies and that too drives people to binge eating. In fact it’s the chief mechanism behind eating disorders, if only more people knew it. We know that insulin resistance (the early stage of diabetes) blocks glucose uptake by cells, which is then diverted to the liver and stowed away at fat. We know that psychological hang ups can lead to “comfort eating”. But there is something else? You betcha… Antibiotics! I could kick myself for not thinking of this, decades ago. But we know that farmers feed their livestock on antibiotics, to make them grow. Pigs, lambs and sheep can be up 40% bigger and fatter, because of this antibiotic treatment. But we never thought “well, that must apply to humans too”; duh!

The hidden cause of weight gain? Have we been missing something all these years? Obviously, the main cause of weight gain is over-eating. But is there something behind that—something driving the overeating—that nobody has noticed? I think so—and now people are beginning to recognize its importance. Other Causes We know that MSG in food is addictive and causes people to over eat. We know that eating carbs is highly addictive, with people being driven by blood sugar spikes, followed by a drop in blood sugar. Refined carbs are the worst. A few of us pioneers back in the 70s and 80s discovered that food addiction is often related to food allergies and that too drives people to binge eating. In fact it’s the chief mechanism behind eating disorders, if only more people knew it. We know that insulin resistance (the early stage of diabetes) blocks glucose uptake by cells, which is then diverted to the liver and stowed away at fat. We know that psychological hang ups can lead to “comfort eating”. But there is something else? You betcha… Antibiotics! I could kick myself for not thinking of this, decades ago. But we know that farmers feed their livestock on antibiotics, to make them grow. Pigs, lambs and sheep can be up 40% bigger and fatter, because of this antibiotic treatment. But we never thought “well, that must apply to humans too”; duh!