What are the causes of vitamin k deficiency in human?

A deficiency of vitamin K is unlikely in healthy adults. The populations groups that appear to be most at risk for a vitamin K deficiency are newborn infants, people being treated chronically with antibiotics, people with severe gastrointestinal malabsorption disorders, and the elderly.

Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, biliary stasis, sliver diseases, cystic fibrosis, celiac disease, and Ascaris infection can interfere with enteric absorption of vitamin K.

The synthesis of vitamin K by the intestinal flora meets the requirements of this vitamin. But sterilization of the large intestine by the prolonged use of sulfonamides and antibiotics or diarrheal diseases like sprue, ulcerative colitis and conditions with reduce fat absorption may lead to vitamin K deficiency.

Vitamin K deficiency also occurs in patients with malabsorption and sometimes following prolonged use of broad spectrum antibiotic by mouths (which can destroy the colonic bacteria). Many antibiotics like penicillins, cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, chloramphenicol, amphotericin B, erythromycin are reported to cause vitamin K deficiency and hypoprothrombinemia.

Certain types of drugs can impair vitamin K function. These include warfarin and other 4-hydroxycoumarin anticoagulants and large doses of salicylates, which inhibit the redox cycling of the vitamin.

Newborn are particularly at risk because their food is limited to milk, which is low in vitamin K; their stores of the vitamin are low because inadequate amounts cross the placental and their intestinal tract is not yet populated by vitamin K-synthesizing bacteria.
What are the causes of vitamin k deficiency in human?

Food sources of vitamin K

Vitamin K is part of a family of chemical, all fat-soluble naphthoquinones. They are including phylloquinone (K1), menaquinones (K2) and menadione (K3).

The first is vitamin K1 (phylloquinone or phytonadione), which comes from plants and makes up human dietary vitamin K. Phylloquinone is the predominant dietary form of vitamin K and is present in foods of plant origin.

These include green leafy as the major quantitative source and contribute approximately 60% of total phylloquinone.

Certain plant oils and margarine, spreads and salad dressings derived from these plant oils are also important dietary sources of phylloquinone.

The second is vitamin K2 (menaquinones), which is produced by bacteria present in the large intestine. It is found in butter, cow liver, chicken, egg yolks, fermented soybean products, and some cheese.

The fats of grass-fed animals are especially good sources of vitamin K2. For vegetarians who would shun animal fats, natto, the Japanese fermented food, is a good source of vitamin K2.

Third, there is vitamin K3 (menadione), is neither found naturally in food nor made by intestine bacteria. It is synthetic, man-made substance.
Food sources of vitamin K

Properties of vitamin K

Vitamin K comprises derivatives of 1,4-naphthiquinone. Naturally occurring forms are equipped with structures possessing the unsaturated isoprenoid side chain linked to naphthoquinones at carbon-3.

Vitamin K also fat soluble. It is essential for the synthesis of prothrombin a compound involved in the clotting of blood.

Vitamin K is mostly needed to help to stop bleeding, but it has some other jobs as well.

It is a cofactor specific to the formation of –carboxyglutamyl residues from specific glutamate residues in certain proteins. 

The most important is the crucial role vitamin K, plays building bones. Vitamin K is needed to help hold onto the calcium in bones and make sure it’s getting to the right place.

It actually comes in three different forms: First, there’s vitamin K1, or phylloquinone. This is the form of vitamin K found in plant foods.

Vitamin K1 is quite stable to oxidation and most food processing and food preparation procedures. It is unstable to light and alkaline conditions.

Next, there’s Vitamin K2, also called menaquinone. This the form friendly bacteria in the intestines make. 

The last form would be called vitamin K3. It is also called menadione. Menadione is the only formed isolated from Staphylococcus aureus and also chemically synthesized. It is a synthetic compound that can be converted into K2 in the gastrointestinal tract.

All your vitamin K ends up in liver, where it’s used to make some of the substance that make blood clot.
Properties of vitamin K

Factors of vitamin K deficiency

Human intake of vitamin K comes from two main sources - our diets and synthesis from intestinal bacteria.

Vitamin K deficiency is rare among humans and most other animal species. This is due to the wide occurrence of vitamin K in plant and animal foods and to the significant microbial synthesis of the vitamin that occurs in the intestines.

Vitamin K deficiencies can be caused by a variety of factors. These include:
*Not consuming enough vitamin K from one's diet can contribute to a deficiency. Dietary vitamin K is highest in leafy green vegetables such as lettuce, kale, broccoli and collard greens.

*A diet with high intakes of salicylates can block vitamin K. Salicylates are found in foods such as nuts, fruits, spices and mints. Aspirin is a salicylate. Blocking vitamin K is why aspirin can "thin" the blood - it basically keeps blood from coagulating. This is why too much aspirin can cause stomach and intestinal bleeding.

*Antibiotics can cause bleeding problems from vitamin K deficiencies. Antibiotics drugs can virtually sterilize the lumen of the intestine, thus removing an important source of vitamin K. Prior to surgery, a patient’s vitamin K status is often tested to assess the risk hemorrhaging because antibiotics are frequently part of the treatment regimen.

*Candida (systemic yeast) infections have been linked to vitamin K deficiencies. An overgrowth of Candida albicans or other kinds of yeast can crowd out the helpful bacteria in the digestive tract that make vitamin K. People who eat a lot of sugary foods, an unusually high proportion of alkaline foods and/or take antibiotics tend to be at high risk for Candida infections.

*Lipid malabsorption. Whenever lipid absorption falters, as occurs when bile production falls, vitamin K absorption diminished. Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, biliary stasis, liver disease, cystic fibrosis, celiac disease and Ascaric infection can interfere with the centric absorption of vitamin K.

*Certain types of drugs can impair vitamin K function. Anticoagulants like Warfarin block the action of vitamin K. In turn, vitamin K blocks the action of anticoagulants. That could block blood vessels leading to the heart or brain.

*Megadoses of vitamins A and E counteract the actions of vitamin K. Vitamin A appears to hamper intestinal absorption of vitamin K and excess vitamin E seems to decrease the vitamin K dependent clotting factor, thus promoting bleeding.

*The bacteria that synthesize vitamin K thrive in an acidic digestive environment. Antacids, if taken in sufficient quantity, may cause a vitamin K deficiency, as well as irritable bowel syndrome and various nutritional deficiencies, because they neutralize the hydrochloric acid in a person's stomach. Hydrochloric acid is needed to digest food and create the acidic environment in which the beneficial bacteria thrive.

*Some drugs disrupt vitamin K’s synthesis and action in the body: antibiotics kill the vitamin K-producing bacteria in the intestine, and anticoagulant drugs interfere with vitamin K metabolism and activity. When vitamin K deficiency does occur, it can be fatal.

Factors of vitamin K deficiency

Types of vitamin K

Vitamin K is needed for γ-carboxylase activity which is essential for the formation of active clotting proteins.

Vitamin K is also required for the synthesis of other proteins found in plasma, bone and kidney. Vitamin K was discovered in 1935 by Henrik Dam as a fat soluble compound that prevented hemorrhagic disease in chicken.

There are two different forms of vitamin K:
*Vitamin K1
*Vitamin K2

Phylloquinone (vitamin K1), is the only form found in plans and is the primary dietary source of vitamin K.

Vitamin K1 is freely available in green vegetables particularly in alfalfa, cereals and animal food. The vitamin also called Mephyton. Thus vitamin K1 is 2 methyl, 3 phytyl-1,4 naphthoquinone.

It is a light yellow oil. This form of vitamin also found in vitamin K supplements and is often given to infants to prevent bleeding.

Menaquinone or vitamin K2, is a product of bacteria metabolism and makes only a minor contribution to vitamin K intake. Its absorption appears t be limited.

Another one is vitamin K3. It is 2-methyl, 1-4 naphthoquinone without any side chain or OH group. Also known as menadione, is synthetic analogue of vitamin K. This form of vitamin is neither found naturally in food nor made by intestinal bacteria but is produced commercially.

Types of vitamin K

Vitamin K

Vitamin K
Vitamin K also fat soluble. It is essential for the synthesis of prothrombin a compound involved in the clotting of blood.

Cabbage, spinach, cauliflower, and liver are specially good source of vitamin K, although moderate amounts are found in many other vegetables, as well as in cereals.

The significant symptom of vitamin K deficiency in humans and in animals is the loss of the ability of the blood to clot which is, of course, a dangerous condition that can result in death whenever bleeding from cuts occurs. It is believed that humans ordinarily receive adequate amounts of vitamin K in the diet.
Food Science