Page 29 - Spring2008

questionable. For most people living outside 35 list—especially goose liver and goose meat, cheeses and egg yolks—but
degrees latitude from the equator, animal foods natto, a strong-tasting fermented soy food common in Eastern Japan, actu-

supply needed vitamin D in the diet. ally has the highest amount. Natto contains a specific form of vitamin K
2
called menaquinone (MK-7), rather than MK-4, the form found in animal
VITAMIN K 2 products; the relative efficacy of these two forms is currently unknown.

Vitamin K is the king of the fat-soluble It is therefore possible for a vegetarian diet to be rich in vitamin K . Most
2
vitamins. Vitamins A and D cooperate to tell cells vegetarians do not consume natto, however, and most vitamin K con-
2
which proteins to make; vitamin K is responsible sumed by participants in the Rotterdam Study came from meat, eggs and
for activating these proteins and making them cheese.
functional by conferring upon them the ability
to bind calcium. In addition to its classically VITAMIN B 12
understood role in blood clotting, vitamin K is Vitamin B is required for the synthesis of new DNA, the degrada-
12
necessary for the deposition and organization of tion of certain amino acids, the production of energy, the formation of red
calcium salts in bones and teeth; the protection of blood cells and the formation of myelin, the sheath that insulates neurons.
blood vessels, kidneys and other soft tissues from Its defi ciency occurs in four stages, beginning with declining blood levels
abnormal calcification; and the synthesis of im- of the vitamin (stage I), progressing to low cellular concentrations of the

20
portant lipids involved in brain metabolism. vitamin (stage II), an increased blood level of homocysteine and a decreased
Vitamin K comes in two forms: K and K . rate of DNA synthesis (stage III), and fi nally, pernicious anemia (stage IV).
1 2
Vitamin K is found in green plants, while vitamin Irreversible nervous system degeneration also occurs in cases of severe
1
K is found in animal fats and fermented foods. defi ciency.
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2
Vitamin K is preferentially used for the activa- Pernicious anemia is a condition in which red blood cells are im-
1
tion of blood clotting factors, while vitamin K mature, oversized and cannot function properly. Because DNA synthesis
2
is preferentially used for all of vitamin K’s other is compromised, the cells do not divide as they should. The disease was
functions. The two K vitamins are therefore not fi rst identifi ed in 1824 and was considered incurably fatal until the 1930s
interchangeable. The clearest demonstration of when physicians discovered that it could be treated with liver. Soon after,
this is the fact that only vitamin K is associated they found that stomach juice could be used in conjunction with the liver
2
with a reduced risk of heart disease. In the Rot- to enhance its effect.
25
terdam Study, subjects consumed nearly ten times Conventional nutritional wisdom considers vitamin B as the one
12
more K than K ; a high intake of K reduced the vitamin found exclusively in animal products. There are some bacteria
1
2
2

risk of severe arterial calcification by 52 percent in the small intestine that synthesize absorbable B , but their presence is
12
and reduced heart disease mortality by 57 percent, unreliable and they face competition from bacteria that synthesize inac-
while a high intake of K had no effect. tive analogues that compete with B for absorption. Most supplements
21
26
1 12
Figure 3 shows vitamin K contents of supply cyanocobalamin, in which each molecule of B is attached to a
12
2
selected foods. Animal products dominate the molecule of cyanide. Since vitamin B detoxifi es cyanide by binding it
12
FIGURE 3. VITAMIN K CONTENT OF SELECTED FOODS
2
Values taken from references 22 and 23. MK-4 is the type of vitamin K synthesized by animal bodies from vitamin K .
1
2
Whether it has special value apart from other forms of vitamin K has yet to be determined.
2
FOOD Vitamin K (mcg/100g) FOOD Vitamin K (mcg/100g)
2
2
Natto 1103.4 (0% MK-4) Chicken Liver 14.1 (100% MK-4)
Goose Liver Paste 369.0 (100% MK-4) Salami 9.0 (100% MK-4)
Hard Cheeses 76.3 (6% MK-4) Chicken Breast 8.9 (100% MK-4)
Soft Cheeses 56.5 (6.5% MK-4) Chicken Leg 8.5 (100% MK-4)
Egg Yolk (Netherlands) 32.1 (98% MK-4) Ground Beef (Medium Fat) 8.1 (100% MK-4)
Goose Leg 31.0 (100% MK-4) Bacon 5.6 (100% MK-4)
Curd Cheeses 24.8 (1.6% MK-4) Calf Liver 5.0 (100% MK-4)
Egg Yolk (US) 15.5 (100% MK-4) Sauerkraut 4.8 (8% MK-4)
Butter 15.0 (100% MK-4) Salmon 0.5 (100% MK-4)
Mackerel 0.4 (100% MK-4)
SPRING 2008 Wise Traditions 29