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What You Need To Know About Vitamin K

What's The Difference Between Vitamin K, K1 and K2?

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin. There are 2 forms of vitamin K: K1, or phylloquinone, and K2, or menaquinone. The main type is K1 and comes from plants and green leafy vegetables. K2 can be found in some animal-based and fermented foods. It is also made by our body from the vitamin K1 in the food we eat.

Vitamin K Benefits

Vitamin K plays a key role in helping your blood clot when you are bleeding. People who take Warfarin (also known as Coumadin), a blood thinning medication, should aim to eat the same amount of vitamin K each day for the drug to work well.

Vitamin K also helps create the proteins that are needed for the building of bones and helps your body heal wounds.

How much vitamin K do adults need per day? The amount you need depends on your age, sex and life stage:

Women aged 19 and older: 90 mcg
Men aged 19 and older: 120 mcg
Pregnant women 19 years and older: 90 mcg
Breastfeeding women 19 years and older: 90 mcg

Common Foods Sources of Vitamin K

Our bodies can make vitamin K but we get most of our vitamin K from foods. Dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale are the best sources of vitamin K.

See the table below for the vitamin K content of some common foods:

Food Groupe	Food	Serving size	Vitamin K (mcg)

Vegetables and Fruit
	Kale, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	561
	Parsley, raw	125 mL (½ cup)	520
	Spinach, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	469
	Dandelion greens, raw	250 mL (1 cup)	452
	Mustard greens, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	438
	Collards, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	408
	Beet greens, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	368
	Swiss chard, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	303
	Turnip greens, cooked	250 mL (1 cup)	280
	Spinach, raw	250 mL (1 cup)	153
	Endive, rew	250 mL (1 cup)	122
	Brussels sprouts, cooked	4 sprouts	118
	Broccoli, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	116
	Green onions/scallions, raw	250 mL (1 cup)	109
	Cabbage, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	86
	Lettuce, green leaf, raw	250 mL (1 cup)	75
	Lettuce, romaine or butter, raw	250 mL (1 cup)	60
	Cabbage, raw	250 mL (1 cup)	56
	Asparagus, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	48
	Broccoli, raw	125 mL (½ cup)	47
	Kiwifruit	1 large	37
	Seaweed	125 mL (½ cup)	28
	Rhubarb, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	27
	Blueberries, frozen	125 mL (½ cup)	27
	Green peas, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	22
	Avocado	½ fruit	21

Grain Products
Grain Products	Spinach egg noodles, cooked	125 mL (½ cup)	86

Milk and Alternatives	This food group contains very little of this nutrient

Meat and Alternatives
	Tuna, light, canned with oil	75 g (2.5 oz)	33
	Soybeans, boiled	175 mL (¾ cup)	24

The information in this resource is for general information purposes only and is not intended to replace informed medical advice. Consume foods according to any dietary guidelines you have been provided from a health care professional. Metro Ontario Pharmacies Limited assumes no legal liability for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of the information.