About Vitamin K Deficiency Disease

Many people are worried about what might happen to them due to a Vitamin K deficiency. They are worried about a so-called "vitamin K deficiency disease.

Vitamin K is a member of the fat soluble vitamins. Many people have never even heard of it. It actually has three different forms: phytomenadione (Vitamin K1), menaquinane (Vitamin K2), and menadione (Vitamin K3). These three similar, yet very different compounds are commonly referred to as a group as quinines. Vitamin K, like Vitamin D, is another of the vitamins that the body is normally able to produce own its own. It does so by making use of bacteria which are naturally found in the large intestines of healthy individuals. It can also be obtained from natural sources and by means of a Vitamin K supplement.

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A form of Vitamin K deficiency disease does exist, but adults do not normally have to worry about it as it mainly occurs in newborn infants for a variety, or combination, of reasons. This hemorrhagic disease usually occurs 1 to 7 days aftrer birth. In affected newborns, some birth trauma can be the cause of intracranial hemorrhage. Newborns are particularly prone to vitamin K deficiency because the placenta transmits lipids and vitamin K relatively poorly; the liver of a newborn is immature with respect to prothrombin synthesis; human breast milk is naturally low in vitamin K, only containing about 2.5 ėg/L, while cow's milk contains 5000 ėg/L; and lastly the gut of a newborn is sterile during the first few days of life.

Late hemorrhagic disease, which occurs 3 to 8 weeks after birth, is usually associated with either breastfeeding, malabsorption, or a liver disorder.

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