Case file 15: Vitamin K

I'm SO SORRY for being missing for so long. SORRY. haha anyway, I am BACK. So no more Professor Chia deficiency haha. By the way I am ill too! Sore throat. Later I can't talk. (Doesn't really matters actually, seeing how much i talk in class) Ok, so my first task after that long break, : investigating vitamin K deficiency.

ok, vitamin K basically is involved int he carboxylation of certain glutamate residues in proteins to form gamma-carboxyglutamate residues. cheemology. But, what u really need to know, is why this is so important. Gamma-carboxyglutamate is involved in the binding of calcium and is essential for the biological activity of Gla-proteins. These Gla-proteins then play key roles in:
1. blood coagulation
2. bone metabolism
3. vascular biolgy

Vitamin K deficiency may occur by:
1. disturbed intestinal uptake which might occur because of bile duct obstruction
2. therapeutic or accidental intake of vitamin K-antagonists
3. lack of intake of vitamin K (this is however, very rare)
Symptoms of vitamin K deficiency includes: easy bruising, bleeding that may be manifested as nosebleeds, bleeding gums, blood in the urine, blood in the stool, tarry black stools, or extremely heavy menstrual bleeding.

When there is a lack of vitamin K, there is a risk of massive, uncontrolled internal bleeding, cartilage calcifrication and severe malformation of devloping bone, or deposition of insoluble calcium slats in the arterial vessel wall. In infants, vitamin K deficiency may result in life-threatening bleeding within the skull. Cheem name for it: intracranial haemorrhage. An increased risk of fractures of fractures or reduced bone density may occur also.

To prevent the lack of intake of vitamin K, eat lots of leafy green vegetables (YUM =D), such as spinach and lettuce, fruits like kiwifruit and bananas (double YUM =D), meat, cow milk and soy products. (triple, quadruple YUM =D). But it is especially rare to develp vitamin K through lack of intake because the body stores vitamin K. AND, two tablespoons of parsely would already contain 153 % of the recommended daily amound of vitamin K, so no worries =)

p.s. by the way Detective CXY, the 'K' in vitamin K is derived from the GERMAN word 'koagulation' which refers to blood clotting which vitamin K is essential for =)