Move Over Milk

I recently wrote about vitamin K’s role in preventing insulin resistance in men and how it was a particularly important vitamin for the elder generation. But according to new research, it’s a particularly important vitamin for the younger generation as well.

There’s a little-known disease that afflicts one in 250 children in the United States – a staggering number of children for a disease few knew existed in children. It’s called Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), and as the name suggests (“idiopathic” means a peculiar manifestation), there’s no known cause for a disease that typically presents itself much later in life. But an estimated 300,000 kids do indeed have this most common of childhood joint-related diseases, characterized by painful throbbing, swelling, even limping, depending on the affected area, of course (it tends to present itself in the more active of joints, like the knees and wrists).

While no one seems to know why this disease presents itself so early in life, what researchers are coming to find out is how certain vitamins are more beneficial than others in how one copes with it. One such vitamin is vitamin K.

When researchers assessed the bone density and bone development of over 50 children with JIA, they found some distinct differences between those with higher levels of vitamin K as opposed to those with low levels. Those with high levels of vitamin K had bone density levels much higher than those low in vitamin K, not to mention a greater range of motion and overall strength levels were higher. In short, those with vitamin K were better off in coping with JIA than those low in vitamin K.

The Dutch researchers – hailing from the Universities of Maastricht and Utrecht – can’t be certain at this point whether a greater consumption of foods high in vitamin K is the thing that proved useful in fighting JIA. Why? Because there was no indication of improved bone health and vitamin K levels among children without JIA.

While future studies are certainly in the offing, in the meantime, increasing levels of vitamin K will do other beneficial things for the body, like lessening oxidative cell damage and keeping blood platelets clotting properly (sure, improved blood clotting may not be the sexiest of incentives to increase one’s vitamin K levels, but you’ll thank me the next time you get a paper cut and the blood flow stops on its own).

Unfortunately, vitamin K isn’t abundant in foods the typical youngin’ enjoys, like spinach, brussels sprouts, kale, broccoli and asparagus. To get them to increase their vitamin K consumption – if eating more vegetables is simply out of the question – try peppering a variety of dinner dishes with generous helpings of parsley. Parsley adds a mild flavor to virtually any food, but more to the point, it greatly increases the food’s vitamin K level. Just two tablespoons provides over 150 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin K.