Vitamin K

Add more cauliflower and broccoli to your diet to boost your vitamin K or phylloquinone intake. Vitamin K plays a role in bone development, helping your bone cells produce proteins required for the formation of new mineralized bone tissue. Its primary role in your body, however, involves clot formation. Vitamin K represents one of several compounds essential to the coagulation cascade, the series of chemical reactions required to stimulate the formation of a blood clot. Individuals with vitamin K deficiency bleed excessively after injury and develop spontaneous bleeding and bruising, since the low levels of vitamin K in their systems prevent proper clot formation. A cup of chopped cauliflower contains 16.6 micrograms of vitamin K, while a cup of broccoli contains 92.5 micrograms.