Health Benefits of Vitamin K

Vitamin K is a fat soluble vitamin that helps to protect bones from fracture, calcification of arteries, and helps blood to clot normally. Vitamin K is not a single chemical substance. It is a family of related chemical substances that go by the name of “vitamin K.” It helps the body transport calcium and metabolize into your skeleton. It increases bone mineral density and reduces fracture. It also lowers the risk of liver and prostate cancer.

Vitamin K is best known for its role in healthy blood clotting. It is important for the function of several proteins involved in the blood clotting process. In the blood clotting process, it is important in the product of prothrombin and is required for the body to make four of the body's blood clotting factors, mainly prothrombin and the factors VII, IX, and X.

Sources of vitamin K include spinach, Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, green beans, asparagus, broccoli, kale, mustard greens, carrots, green peas, and cauliflower. Vitamin K deficiency is rare due to bacteria synthesis in the body.

Leg Pain Symptom of Deadly Blood Clot

It is found that having leg pain can be a symptom of having a deep vein thrombosis. A deep vein thrombosis forms in large veins and it is usual for them to develop in the leg and groin area. It can kill a person quickly if it moves up to the lung area where it would become a pulmonary embolism.

Symptoms of a deep vein thrombosis in the leg area includes swelling, pain, a warm spot, or discoloration of the skin. Other symptoms may include shortness of breath or having pain when breathing deeply. There are many things that can cause a thrombosis, including recent surgery, broken bones, falling, pregnancy, birth control pills, menopause hormones, and being immobile for a long period of time, and the risks increase with age, especially in people over 65, and with those who smoke or are obese.

Common Causes of Strokes

Most strokes happen when clot blocks blood flow to the brain. Strokes can also happen when a blood vessel bursts in the brain. High blood pressure encourages strokes because it can cause a buildup of arterial plaque, which can cause blood clots.

Birth control pills and hormone therapy increases the risk of having a stroke. Hormone therapy for menopause symptoms has less estrogen than birth control pills but still increases the risk of stroke a little bit.

Sleep apnea is a condition that interrupts the breathing process while a person is asleep. It raises blood pressure and the risk of having a stroke.

Other things that increase the risk of stroke include blood clotting disorders and having migraines with auras. Auras are visual changes that happen before having a migraine.

The risk of having a stroke can be cut in half just by lowering high blood pressure and high cholesterol. If a female has high cholesterol, hypertension, obesity, or diabetes, then she should be very cautions when taking birth control pills so that she can lower the risk of having a stroke.