dyer@wivax.UUCP (Stephen Dyer) (12/12/83)
It should be noted that it's practically impossible to develop a dietary vitamin K deficiency--the substance is widely found in green leafy vegetables and, additionally, is synthesized by our ordinary intestinal bacteria. Supplementation is necessary only in very rare cases--patients given antibiotics to reduce intestinal flora who also "don't eat their vegetables" are at some risk. Also, newborn infants don't yet have the necessary bacteria to produce the vitamin. There are some unusual situations where people with liver or bile disorders cannot utilize or absorb the vitamin, but these people aren't candidates for dietary supplements anyway. A deficiency in vitamin K has only one known effect--a lowering of essential blood clotting factors. In fact, oral anticoagulants act as vitamin K antagonists. If you go for a physical and your blood test indicates that your prothrombin time is OK, then you needn't concern yourself about a deficiency. It is one of the few vitamins whose actions are well-characterized and circumscribed--I don't ever expect to see a book entitled "Vitamin K and the Common Cold." -- /Steve Dyer decvax!bbncca!sdyer sdyer@bbncca