November 13 – Happy Birthday, Edward Doisy

nPostednon November 13, 2014

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nPeoplenare always talking about Vitamin C, urging us to ward off coldsnbefore they start by taking Vitamin C. Sometimes people talk aboutnadding Vitamin D to milk and getting Vitamin D from sunlight, andnsometimes they talk about the B vitamins (I’ve noticed that VitaminnB12 is especially noteworthy!). I often hear parents remind kids thatnthere is Vitamin A in carrots, and that’s why carrots are so good fornour eyes, so eat up! And I’ve seen several people rub Vitamin E onntheir scars to make them smaller and thinner – although apparentlynVitamin E doesn’t really work to do that!

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nButnwho ever talks about Vitamin K?

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nAndnwhy is it K, instead of F (which is next after Vitamin A, B, C, D,nand E)?

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nAndnwhat, oh, what does Vitamin K have to do with today?

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Lastnquestion first:

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nTodaynis the birthday of an American biochemist named Edward Doisy, and henand Henrik Dam discovered Vitamin K and its structure. n

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nHeneven won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for thisndiscovery!

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nSo…whatnexactly is Vitamin K?

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Itnis really important, because this vitamin is required to makenproteins that are required for blood coagulation (also known as bloodnclotting). And blood clots are important so we don’t bleed to deathnfrom the first tiny cut we get!

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nLearnnmore about coagulation, or blood clotting, here.

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nTherenare other uses for Vitamin K as well (for bone health, as a weaponnagainst fungi, and so forth).

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nWhynthe letter “K”?

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nDoisy’snwork on Vitamin K was informed by the work by Danish scientist Dam,nwhose research was first published in a German journal. In German,nthe vitamin was called Koagulationsvitamin – and eventually,nof course, people shortened that to Vitamin K.

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nAlsonon this date:

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