Vitamin K:  Another Reason To Eat Your Vegetables 

Vitamin K is a unique fat-soluble vitamin that plays many roles throughout the body.  If you or a family member has ever been on a blood thinner, you likely know of vitamin K for its clotting properties.  Aside from the role vitamin K has in clotting blood, it is also involved in bone metabolism.  It is recommended to have between 90-120 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin K daily, which is fairly easy to do if you eat dark green leafy vegetables! 

As a reference, 1 cup of cooked kale has over 1000 mcg of vitamin K.  Cooked spinach is the runner up at 889 mcg of vitamin K in 1 cup.  Generally, it’s the dark green leafy vegetables such as beet greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and butterhead lettuce that have the highest concentrations of vitamin K, but lighter color foods such as onions, sauerkraut, and celery also contain vitamin K.   Most multivitamins provide you with 15-80 mcg of vitamin K.

The only downfall to vitamin K occurs if you are taking an anticoagulant or a “blood thinner” such as warfarin, CoumadinÒ, JantovenÒ, or MarfarinÒ.  Since vitamin K plays such a strong role in the clotting process, consuming vitamin K sporadically while taking a blood thinner can potential lead to a blood clot formation, which can be fatal.  Unfortunately, many of the high-vitamin K containing foods also contains many other important nutrients.   Therefore, if you restrict vitamin K because you’re taking an anticoagulant, you may lead to inadvertent nutrient deficiencies.  

If you have any friends or family members taking an anticoagulant, K Free Daily is the only complete multivitamin that will not alter the way your blood clots or change your INR. K Free Daily was developed and designed by a pharmacist and registered dietitian using evidenced-based research. K Free Daily is made in veggie capsules with USP grade ingredients!  It is soy free, gluten free, lactose free, gelatin free, and shellfish free.  For more information to place an order, visit www.kfreedaily.com.  Receive 25% off your order by entering in the coupon code blog25off at checkout. Coupon code expires June 30, 2012 and cannot be combined with other discounts.

Visit us at www.kfreedaily.com to learn about the complete multivitamin for individual’s on blood thinners!   “Like” us on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/kfreedaily.   Follow us on Twitter @kfreedaily. 

Ashley Cohen, MS, RD

Registered Dietitian

www.kfreedaily.com

855-My-Multi

info@kfreedaily.com

(Source: blog.madsweat.com)

We would like to introduce you all to dotFIT, it is the supplement brand we personally use and recommend to our clients.  Here is a little background of why we have chosen dotFIT for our supplement needs.

Before supplements become dotFIT products or are recommended for general consumer use, they must survive stringent legal and scientific review with the following conditions met:

1.  Current clinical research- evidence based and 100% defensible through published scientific research.

2.  Documented safety & efficacy- only safe and effective dosages; only the compounds, and levels that are proven to work are in the products

3.  Purity, potency, delivery- Our dietary supplement products are manufactured in a FDA-registered, Drug-Licensed pharmaceutical facility in compliance with Current Good Manufacturing Practices. This means that both purity and potency are guaranteed and it assures users that all nutritional claims meet or surpass FDA guidelines, USDA guidelines, and industry norms.

4. Never too much or too little-All formulas must be able to work in synergy with other dotFIT products in order to avoid nutrient overages, which are common with typical, indiscriminate supplement use.

Welcome to our series all about proper supplementation!

Today we are going to look at the dotFIT multivitamin formulas, and help determine what one is really best for you! 

Did you know? In June of 2002, the JAMA (journal of the American Medical Association) published a study that urged all American to take a daily multi-vitamin!  So with all the choices out there how do you know what is best. 

 We have already discussed why we recommend dotFIT supplements to our clients, now lets figure out which MV formula is going to be best for your specific needs!

1. Active MV: as this implies if you are an active individual (athlete or involved with intense physical activity) this is the MV for you.  It has higher levels of antioxidants and B vitamins, needed to due increased energy demands.

 2. Over 50:  this formula considers the needs of individuals over 50 years young! Increased levels of B12, B6 and folic acid!

3. Women: designed with the needs of women in mind, higher levels of vitamin D, folic acid, magnesium and iron.

(Source: blog.madsweat.com)