Vitamin K – the next superstar?                       

            When vitamin K was discovered in 1929 it appeared that another puzzle had been solved but like many scientific matters it opened the door to further mysteries. A Danish scientist determined that it played a major role in the blood clotting process and named it vitamin K for koagulation. A half-century later its importance in the intricate regulation of calcium became apparent. Not only is calcium the major element in bone, it is necessary for normal heart function as well.

            Vitamin K has several variations in its chemical structure; the major ones are known in simple terms as K1 and K2. Vitamin K1 is abundant in leafy green vegetables such as kale, turnip greens, spinach and Brussels sprouts. Even though none of these is a favorite of most Americans a single serving provides several times as much vitamin K1 as is needed to prevent bleeding problems so that frank deficiency is quite uncommon.

            Vitamin K2 is found primarily in animal foods such as meat, eggs, cheese and certain types of seafood. It plays a much greater role in calcium regulation than K1 and a deficiency of vitamin K2 is associated with osteoporosis and a risk of fracture.

            Studies of vitamin K2 have revealed a calcium paradox. Persons who are deficient in this vitamin have less calcium in their bones but an excess of calcium in their blood vessels and heart valves. Many, if not most, elderly persons are deficient in vitamin K2, which could partly explain the high prevalence of osteoporosis and heart disease in this segment of our population. In a study of more than 4,000 persons in the Netherlands, those with the highest dietary intake of vitamin K2 were 57 percent less likely to suffer from coronary heart disease compared with those with the lowest intake.

            The amount of vitamin K that is needed to prevent a bleeding disorder is much less than that required for normal bone health, a finding that has not yet been reflected in dietary recommendations. Although vitamin K does not act alone to prevent osteoporosis, some authorities suggest a daily intake that is ten times the current recommendation.

            Vitamin K is a fat soluble vitamin and is more readily absorbed when a meal includes olive oil. The true Mediterranean diet derives about 40 percent of its calories from olive oil, perhaps adding to its value in preventing heart disease.

             

 A vegetarian diet is healthy but...                                

            There is no doubt that a strictly vegetarian diet is healthier than the all-too-prevalent sugary, fat-laden, high-starch eating pattern that characterizes the average American. It takes some careful planning to take advantage of the benefits of the vegetarian menu and avoid its potential shortcomings.

            Persons who avoid foods derived from animals boast of the longer lifespan and the freedom from several chronic diseases that they enjoy and medical science backs up nearly all of those claims. It’s clear that vegetarians, especially the vegans, who don’t give in even for eggs and dairy products, have less heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure. They are less likely to be obese or to have type 2 diabetes or gallbladder disease, all of which are closely linked. Claims of lower incidence of cancer, dementia or chronic kidney disease are controversial although there is no doubt that they are complications of obesity. Lifestyle factors such as exercise do matter and they tend to complicate any side-by-side comparison between vegetarians and meat eaters.

            Vegetarians eat foods that fill them up, not fill them out. Vegetables and fruits have lots of appetite-satisfying fiber and are calorie-sparse. Of course, a vegetarian diet may also include pastries, candy and soft drinks, a nutritionist’s nightmare.

            When vegetarians develop health problems on that diet it’s usually because they fail to include some key nutrients. Iodine is perhaps the most common deficiency because they avoid fish and may not include enough iodized salt in meal preparation. Anemia might occur because although there is a moderate amount of iron in many plant foods it is not as bioavailable as it is in meat products. Except for the occasional insect that inhabits fruits and vegetables, there is no vitamin B₁₂, another cause of anemia. There is less calcium in plant foods but it is absorbed more readily than from dairy products although some plants have antinutrients that keep calcium from being utilized by the body. Zinc deficiency may occur for the same reason.

            Omega-3 fats are not abundant in plant foods. Strict vegans should take a supplement that is derived from plant sources such as algae.

            Parents should be aware that vegetarianism may be an eating disorder in disguise. They should always help a child to plan his or her menu and to monitor them carefully. Anorexia nervosa and bulemia have severe long-term consequences.

            A vegetarian diet is healthy. Just do it right.

             

              

Is there an upside to vaccine side effects?    

            American children receive more than 40 immunizations by the time they reach first grade. Boosters are due during teen years and physicians recommend vaccines against pneumonia and shingles when we reach Medicare age. The value of vaccines is accepted by all but a few who feel that the dangers of vaccines justify their avoidance. It’s true that some vaccines have severe, sometimes fatal side effects. For the families in which such tragedies occur there is small consolation in knowing that the benefits of widespread immunization far outweigh the hazards. A half-century ago a pediatrician might see dozens of children every month with measles, mumps or rubella (German measles). Today’s pediatricians may practice for years without seeing a single child with one of these diseases.

            In countries such as the United Kingdom when the fear of whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine sharply reduced immunization levels there were hundreds of deaths due to the natural disease, far more than suffered vaccine complications. In every country in which polio immunization levels are high the incidence of paralytic polio is zero. Today in Pakistan the Taliban have forced a halt in polio vaccination and more than 40 children there contracted the disease in 2013. That number is probably an underestimate.

            The most common side effects of most vaccines are pain at the injection site and low-grade fever. Seizures (convulsions) were fairly common in children who received older versions of pertussis vaccine but the newer versions rarely cause this complication.

            A child will sometimes develop a mild rash following measles vaccination but the dreaded complications of natural measles are nonexistent in children who have received the vaccine.

            If a child has a high fever or some other complication, even a seizure, following immunization it could indicate an unusual susceptibility to the natural disease. If that child were to be exposed to the wild virus he or she might have been the one child in a thousand who developed encephalitis during a pre-vaccine-era measles outbreak or who died of other measles complications. In other words, a greater than normal reaction to the vaccine virus might indicate that the natural virus would have caused a serious, perhaps fatal, infection.

            When a vaccine causes a mild illness it’s not be something to worry about. Instead it may indicate greater susceptibility to the real thing and parents should be relieved that their child is now protected.