Vital Symptoms Of Vitamin K Deficiency

Vitamin K deficiency usually not occur on its own, but is the result of some associated problem within the body. Vitamin K is easily available from foods like dairy products and vegetables and additionally, it is synthesized within the body in small intestine, by favorbale bacteria. From there, it gets absorbed into the body.

Moreover, the body is very efficient in using vitamin K by recycling it and each molecule can be used for a numbe rof times, before getting degraded. But, still we come across vitamin K deficiencies. The major cause remains the long term us eof antibiotics that kills away the small intestinal bacteria that produces 50% of total vitamin K levels in the body, resulting in Vitamin K deficiency.

Important Sign And Symptoms Of Vitamin K Deficiency

Excessive Bruising And Bleeding

Amongst all the symptoms of vitamin K deficiency, the most common is excessive bleeding and bruising. A person’s wound takes more time than usual in getting healed and bleeding occurs when it is not supposed to.

Frequent nose bleeds may be a sign of vitamin K deficiency. Even coming under a minor contact of things, one can develop bruising and there occurs high flow of blood during menstruation days. There can also be bleeding of gums, digestive tract and appearance of blood in the urine.

Underdevelopment Of Foetus

Deficiency of vitamin K in pregnancy can harm the foetal development as vitamin K plays a crucial role in foetal development. Foetal may have malformed fingers or facial features like chin, ears and nose, internal bleeding within the skull. This is the reason vitamin K is given as food supplements to pregnant women.

New born babies are usually deficient in vitamin K as the small intestinal bacteria have not fully developed and therefore, vitamin K injections may be given in some cases, to prevent any deficiency symptoms.

Improper Calcium Utilization

In individuals with deficiency of vitamin K, bone mineralization does not happen adequately, resulting in weak bone formation and low bone density (osteoporosis). Calcium gets deposited in all wrong places like kidney and heart resulting in organ failure or dangerous situations.

Hardening of arteries due to excessive calcium deposition is another sign of vitamin K deficiency. This improper calcium utilization may result in malabsorption, biliary obstruction, resection of small intestine, loss of bone, fractures and cystic fibrosis.

Haemorrhages And Coagulation

Defects on blood coagulation process and excessive haemorrhages are the symptoms of vitamin K deficiency. Inadequate amounts of vitamin K leads to reduce production of thrombin, an essential cofactor for mediating clotting during bleeds.

It results in inadequate clotting of blood that becomes the cause for extensive haemorrhaging or anaemia. This can also contribute to development of Alzheimer’s disease.

Deficiency of vitamin K can be easily avoided by including foods like eggs, soybean, milk products and green leafy vegetables in the regular diet. In spite of being a fat soluble vitamin, vitamin K is not stored in body for long durations. Therefore, even short periods of inadequate vitamin K in body may result in deficiency symptoms. For those with vitamin K deficiency should use oral medicines as prescribed by the doctor to overcome its inadequacy as soon as possible.