Deficiency of vitamins K in human body

Vitamin K is an essential nutrient that is required as a cofactor for the production of a handful of coagulation cascade proteins.

As a rule, vitamin K deficiency is rare – almost everyone gets more than enough from their own bacteria and from their food.

The intestinal tract of a new born infant is sterile. For this reason, the baby is unable to produce vitamin K until the intestine is colonized with bacteria from the infant’s environment, usually within 24 hrs.

To make up for them, most newborns are given an injection of a tiny amount of vitamin K soon after birth. 

Vitamin K deficiency is rarely seen in adults, because most diets contain enough vitamin K for normal physiological functioning. When adults get vitamin K deficiency, it’s generally because they eat very few green vegetables or because they have been taking oral antibiotics for a long time.

The antibiotics kill off the intestine bacteria that make vitamin K. Sometimes vitamin K deficiency is caused by liver disease or a problem digesting fat.

Abnormal blood coagulation is more likely to arise from secondary causes such as malabsorption syndromes or biliary obstruction than from a dietary inadequacy of vitamin K.

Vitamin K deficiency causes bug black and blue marks from very slight bruises or even for no reason, nosebleeds, blood in your urine and intestinal bleeding.
Deficiency of vitamins K in human body

Vitamin K Deficiencies

Vitamin K acts as a cofactor for the addition do carboxyl groups on glutamic acid residues of the vitamin K-dependent clotting proteins.

Vitamin K deficiency is common among neonates in the first few days postpartum due to poor placental transfer of vitamin K and inadequate production of vitamin K producing intestinal flora.

Vitamin K deficiency is seen in a patient with malabsorption syndromes, such as pancreatitis, short bowel syndrome, sprue or small bowel states of bacterial overgrowth such as sometimes accompany use of broad-spectrum antibiotics.

Most patients with mild to moderate degrees of vitamin K deficiency do not have bleeding problems unless they undergo surgery or sustain trauma.

Vitamin K deficiency seldom results from insufficient dietary intake of this vitamin.

Dietary deficiencies of vitamin K can be easily replenished with daily oral supplementation of 5 to 10 mg. However, in a patients with malabsorption syndromes, the subcutaneous route to be considered.

The cardinal sign of vitamin deficiency is an abnormal bleeding tendency, accompanied by prolonged prothrombin time; these signs disappear with vitamin K administration.
Vitamin K Deficiencies