Vitamin K

What Vitamin K Does

Vitamin K1, or phylloquinone, is a product of plant synthesis and is most concentrated in green leafy vegetables because of its direct role in photosynthesis.^[1] Vitamin K2 works differently: gut bacteria convert some of the vitamin K1 that passes through the digestive tract into K2.^[1]

Both forms feed the same core mechanism. Vitamin K serves as a required cofactor for gamma-glutamyl carboxylase, an enzyme that activates vitamin K-dependent proteins by adding gamma-carboxyglutamate residues.^[2] That modification lets clotting factors II, VII, IX, and X bind calcium, which is what allows them to function in the coagulation cascade.^[2]

Vitamin K's reach goes beyond clotting. Undercarboxylated osteocalcin, the form vitamin K deficiency leaves behind, impairs bone mineralization and is linked to reduced bone density.^[2] A similar mechanism applies to a protein called matrix Gla protein: without enough vitamin K to carboxylate it, MGP loses its ability to inhibit calcium deposits from forming in vascular tissue.^[2]

How It's Logged

Go Go Gaia's food logger breaks the meals you log down into their nutrients, including vitamin K, so intake from foods like green leafy vegetables shows up alongside the rest of your nutrition data.^[1]

Why People Track Vitamin K

Vitamin K comes up in one well-known clinical practice that has nothing to do with a food log. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that term newborns receive a vitamin K1 injection shortly after birth, since injected vitamin K is more effective than an oral dose at preventing deficiency bleeding.^[2] That's a standard newborn practice, decided between families and their care team, separate from adult dietary intake. For most people logging meals, vitamin K comes up simply because it's one more nutrient the app's food database can break out and track over time.

How Go Go Gaia Tracks Vitamin K

Go Go Gaia doesn't run lab work, and there's no blood test for vitamin K in the app. The food logger is how vitamin K enters your data: log a meal, and its vitamin K content is broken out and added to your nutrition totals for the day, charted next to your cycle and other logged nutrients over time.

What the Research Shows

The carboxylation mechanism behind vitamin K's role in clotting is well mapped: it's required cofactor for gamma-glutamyl carboxylase, the enzyme that adds gamma-carboxyglutamate residues to clotting factors so they can bind calcium and function in the coagulation cascade.^[2]

The same carboxylation chemistry extends to bone and vascular proteins. Undercarboxylated osteocalcin is linked to impaired bone mineralization and reduced bone density, and undercarboxylated matrix Gla protein loses its ability to inhibit calcium deposits in vascular tissue.^[2]

On newborn care specifically, the American Academy of Pediatrics' standing recommendation is an intramuscular vitamin K1 injection shortly after birth for term infants, based on evidence that the injected route outperforms oral dosing at preventing deficiency bleeding.^[2]

Related Terms

Frequently Asked Questions

Educational information based on published sources. Not medical advice. For personal concerns, please consult your doctor.

Does Go Go Gaia track vitamin K from a blood test?

No. Go Go Gaia doesn't offer a lab test for vitamin K. The app's food logger tracks vitamin K from the meals you log, based on their nutrient content, and charts your intake over time.

What's the difference between vitamin K1 and K2?

Vitamin K1, or phylloquinone, is made by plants and is concentrated in green leafy vegetables. Vitamin K2, or menaquinone, is produced when gut bacteria convert some of that K1 during digestion.

Why do newborns get a vitamin K shot?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that term newborns receive a vitamin K1 injection shortly after birth, since injected vitamin K is more effective than an oral dose at preventing vitamin K deficiency bleeding in infants.