Vitamin K

Vitamin K is turning out to be a startling anti-aging nutrient. It may prevent both heart disease and osteoporosis and it is a stronger antioxidant than vitamin E or Co Q10. Recent research shows that vitamin K keeps calcium out of the arteries and in the bones. In the famous nurse study, using 10 years worth of data on 72,000 participants, it was concluded that nurses who got the most vitamin K were about 1/3 less likely to get a hip fracture. There are also implications for its protective influence against strokes, Alzheimer’s disease and heart attacks. Are you getting enough vitamin K in your diet? Do you have lettuce every day? Osteoporosis is a sign you may be at risk for hardening of the arteries. Vitamin K may stop hypertension and reduce the incidence of stroke. It is also implicated in controlling blood sugar. Vitamin K is not stored in the body and thus is nontoxic in high amounts. In Japan 45 mg. a day has been used for treating osteoporosis without toxicity. Generally, 10 mg/day is the recommendation. http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2000/feb00-report.html