short bowel disease

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.