“During the past decade, vitamin K has been linked to two of the most-important health issues: bone health and cardiovascular health,” says Eric Anderson, brand manager, P.L. Thomas & Co., Inc., Morristown, NJ. “In order to utilize calcium in the body, K vitamins are essential. The vitamin K–dependent proteins cannot function to put calcium into healthy bone tissue and keep it from accumulating in arteries and soft tissues without adequate vitamin K. This is called the ‘calcium paradox,’ and thus experts do not recommend calcium supplementation without supplemental vitamin K.
“Higher levels of vitamin K are strongly associated with better bone mass, density, improved geometry and mineral content,” continues Anderson. “Strong bones developed in childhood reduce the risk of osteoporotic fracture in life as high peak bone mass buffers bone loss in the elderly. Children have much higher bone metabolism than adults, the result of growing bones, and thus have a greater need for K vitamins in the diet.”
Vitamin K is naturally present in two forms. Vitamin K1 is in leafy green vegetables, not a favorite among adolescents. There are also the K2 vitamins, collectively called the menaquinones. These are found in fermented cheese and curd, and in small amounts in egg yolk and meat. Fermented soybeans are also a particularly rich source of vitamin K2.
“Of the K vitamins, the most-active contributor to bone and vascular health is natural vitamin K2, especially the longer menaquinones such as menaquinone-7 (Mk-7),” says Anderson. “Natural Mk-7 can be extracted from fermented soybeans, with this new whole food extract available as an ingredient in both oil and powder form.”
From the garden
“Americans of all ages need to eat more fruits and vegetables. One easy way to help is by using the right type of ingredient,” says Chris Stepan, corporate chef, Vegetable Juices Inc., Bedford Park, IL. “A puréed vegetable or fruit, by itself, would be considered one portion or serving size. Proprietary nonthermal processing creates concentrates that, based on the Brix levels, can multiply that by five. Both purées and concentrates can be utilized to increase vegetable portions within formulations, to enhance flavor and improve the sweetness profile.
“For example, in a muffin, nonthermally concentrated vegetable or fruit (25 °Brix) can be used at 13% in formulation, at the same level as honey,” Stepan continues. “The nonthermal concentrate retains the long-chain carbohydrates and stacks them up, allowing the body to digest its own food. This cuts down on the glycemic index. Instead of sugar portions, you have a sweetening property and, along with this sweetening, you add more vegetable portions to the product.” For example, using carrot juice concentrate as a natural sweetener at 13% of a 1,000 gram formula would add 3 grams of protein, 187 IU vitamin A and 62 mg calcium.
Another option is butternut squash purée in baked goods, such as cookies, notes Stepan. “It retains water well to help the cookies remain moist, and the flavor is neutral with light floral notes,” he says. “Even when used in low concentrations within a baking environment such as a cookie, the vegetable portion can be increased from zero to a third of a serving.”
Another popular delivery vehicle for fruits and vegetables is beverages. “It’s the perfect environment for a half-and-half blend of vegetable and fruit juices that possess their own natural sweeteners,” says Stepan. “Ordinarily, a consumer—let alone an adolescent—wouldn’t drink a glass of beet juice. Yet it’s a perfect match for pomegranate, currently a popular ‘cool’ beverage flavor. Nonthermally processed beet juice has a light flavor that stays in the background. In addition, the beet juice lends its own unique mix of antioxidants to those of the pomegranate to create a powerful, healthy beverage that teens find appealing.” Beets not only contain antioxidants, they also help the liver produce additional natural antioxidants that combat the oxidative damage caused by free radicals.
Fatty facts
Like choline, the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPS) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are associated with brain development and memory. Swedish researchers found that among nearly 5,000 15-year-old boys surveyed, those who ate fish more than once per week tended to score higher on intelligence tests three years later. The findings, published in Acta Paediatrica (2009; 98(3):555-560), add to the evidence that omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA are important to early brain development and to maintaining healthy brain function throughout life.