NUTRIENTS,Vitamin K

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin that is most well known for the important role it plays in blood clotting. However, vitamin K is also absolutely essential to building strong bones, preventing heart disease, and crucial part of other bodily processes.

In general, K1 (phylloquinone) is the form of the vitamin chiefly derived from dietary sources such as leafy green vegetables and soybean oil, while K2 (menaquinone) is produced by bacteria in the intestine.16 While K2 may be more important in bone mineralization than K1, the amount of K2 absorbed from the gut provides 

Why do people take vitamin K?

Low levels of vitamin K can raise the risk of uncontrolled bleeding. While vitamin K deficiencies are rare in adults, they are very common in newborn infants. A single injection of vitamin K for newborns is standard. Vitamin K is also used to counteract an overdose of the blood thinner Coumadin.

While vitamin K deficiencies are uncommon, you may be at higher risk if you:

• Have a disease that affects absorption in the digestive tract, such as Crohn's disease or active celiac disease
• Take drugs that interfere with vitamin K absorption
• Are severely malnourished
• Drink alcohol heavily

In these cases, a health care provider might suggest vitamin K supplements.

Who Needs Vitamin K?

If you or your family has a history of osteoporosis or heart disease, I strongly advise adding vitamin K to your diet. Keep in mind, you'd have to eat more than one pound of collard greens daily to get the necessary amount of vitamin K. Clearly the collard greens and spinach have great nutritional benefits, but if you already have heart disease, a little extra vitamin K would seem a simple bit of insurance to make sure your blood vessels don't calcify. You will also want to consider adding vitamin K to your diet if you do not eat many vegetables or are concerned you are not getting enough vitamin K from your foods, for whatever reason. The following conditions may put you at an increased risk of vitamin K deficiency:

• Eating a poor or restricted diet
• Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease and other conditions that interfere with nutrient absorption
• Liver disease that interferes with vitamin K storage
• Taking drugs such as broad-spectrum antibiotics, cholesterol drugs and aspirin

NUTRIENTS:

How Nutrients Work

Nutrients from food are absorbed by the body as it passes through the digestive system:

• Nutrients are essential for cell growth, maintenance and repair.
• Nutrients provide energy to enable your body to function efficiently.
• Nutrients, along with fiber and water, are essential to your good health.

Although nutrients can work alone, each depends upon the others to be the most effective. The main nutrients are the macronutrients, Carbohydrates, proteins and fats  – and the micronutrients, vitamins and minerals.

What Macronutrients Do

Macronutrients Are Essential for Good Health:

• They assist in breaking down carbohydrates and fats, which provide energy to the body.
• They assist in the absorption of protein, which provides the building blocks necessary for cell growth and repair.

What Micronutrients Do

Vitamins and minerals do not in themselves provide energy, but macronutrients depend on them to regulate the release of energy from food.

• Vitamins are organic substances.
• They activate enzymes, which are proteins that act as catalysts to speed up biological reactions that take place in your body.
• Your body produces a certain amount of vitamins D and k, but all other vitamins come from your diet or supplementation.

Minerals are inorganic substances that originate from rocks and ores and enter the food chain through the soil.

• We get minerals either by eating plants grown on mineral-rich soil or by eating animals that have fed on these plants.
• Calcium and magnesium  and phosphorus are the major constituents of bone.
• Sodium and potassium control your body's water balance.
• Other minerals (Chromium,iron and magnesium ) are needed for various chemical processes to take place in the body.
• Omega fatty nutrients 
• Phytonutrients, also referred to as phytochemicals, are compounds that act as a natural defense system in plants, and that also have a beneficial effect on human health.

Nutrients are components in foods that an organism uses to survive and grow. Macronutrients provide the bulk energy an organism's metabolic system needs to function while micronutrients provide the necessary cofactors for metabolism to be carried out. Both types of nutrients can be acquired from the environment.

Nutrients are the substances in food that our bodies process to enable it to function. Your nutrient requirements are influenced by factors including your age, growth stage and activity. Nutrients are so small that they can’t be seen by the naked eye.

Nutrients can generally be broken onto two categories:

macronutrients – carbohydrates, protein, fats;

and

micronutrients – vitamins and minerals such as calcium, iron, vitamin C.

Energy: kilojoules

A kilojoule (kJ) is simply a measure of energy. In order for our bodies to function, we need energy to fuel them. Under Australian food laws, it is a requirement to display energy as kilojoules to describe the amount of energy found in a serve of food. Another term you might have heard of for energy is calories. Calories is an American measure and will often be found on American packaged goods. These terms are used interchangeably to talk about energy, however it is important to know that 1 Cal = 4.18 kJ.

How many kilojoules does a person need?

The average daily kilojoule (energy) requirement for an adult is  approximately 8700kJ or 2000Cal. A person’s daily energy requirements differ based on their gender, how much exercise they do, their height and weight, and whether or not they suffer from particular illnesses or disorder.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the body's main source of energy. There are three different kinds of carbohydrates. They include

• Starch
• sugar, and
• fiber.

Starch is made from chains of small sugars. When these chains are broken down during digestion, we get energy. We get 4 calories from each gram of starch (or sugar). We do not get calories from fiber because our bodies do not break fiber down during digestion.

Plant foods like cereals, bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, plantains and corn are good sources of starch. They give us the energy we need to do daily activities. These starchy foods give us important vitamins and minerals, too.

Because carbohydrate-rich foods are usually low in calories, they can help us keep a healthy weight. When we add fat (like butter, sour cream or gravies) at the table or when we cook , we add extra calories and may gain weight. Try using less mayonnaise, butter or margarine on breads and muffins. Use less gravy or sour cream on potatoes. When we shop we can get the carbohydrates we need without added fat by reading food labels. Compare crackers and bread products and try the ones with less fat. Use more vegetables without fatty sauces.

Fat

Fat is a nutrient that is an important source of calories. One gram of fat supplies 9 calories - more than twice the amount we get from carbohydrates or protein. Fat also is needed to carry and store essential fat-soluble vitamins, like vitamins A and D. There are two basic types of fat. They are grouped by their chemical structure. Each type of fat is used differently in our bodies and has a different effect on our health.

When we eat a lot of high fat foods, we get a lot of calories. With too many calories, we may gain weight. Eating too much fat may also increase the risk of getting diseases like cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure or stroke. Health experts recommend that we should get no more than 30% of our calories from fat to reduce our risk of getting these diseases.

Fat is found in many foods. Some of the fat that we eat comes from the fat we add in cooking or spread on breads, vegetables or other foods. A lot of fat is hidden in foods that we eat as snacks, pastries or prepared meals.

We can reduce the amount of fat we eat by cutting down on the fat that we add in cooking or spread on foods. We can eat skim milk and low fat cheeses instead of whole milk and cheese. We can also use less fat, oil, butter, and margarine. Another way to cut down on fat is to drain and trim meats and take the skin off poultry. We can also read labels and compare the amount of fat in foods to make lower fat choices.

Fiber

Fiber is one kind of carbohydrate. It is sometimes called roughage or bulk. Fiber is the part of plant foods that our bodies do not break down during digestion. Because fiber isn't digested, it doesn't give us calories. Foods that contain a lot of fiber may also contain other types of carbohydrates like starch or sugar. While we do not get calories from the fiber in these foods, we do get calories from the sugars and starches they contain.

Fiber is important for keeping the digestive tract working smoothly. Since we do not digest it, the fiber in food passes into the intestine and absorbs water. The undigested fiber creates "bulk" so the muscles in the intestine can push waste out of the body. Eating enough fiber helps prevent constipation. It may also reduce the risk of getting colon cancer. Some fibers can help lower blood cholesterol.

Dried peas and beans like lentils, black-eyed peas, chickpeas and kidney beans are the best sources of fiber. The skins and seeds in fresh fruits and vegetables are good sources, too. Whole-grain cereals and breads like oatmeal, brown rice, grits and whole-wheat bread are all naturally high in fiber.

Often the fiber in plant foods (like skins, bran or seeds) is removed when the food is cooked by us or processed by the manufacturer. We get more fiber when we eat whole fruits and vegetables with the peels and seeds than we do when we eat foods like applesauce or instant mashed potatoes. When we shop we can look on food labels to find products that say "100%" whole grain. We can also compare the Nutrition Facts to find foods with more fiber.