Hi Sue,
Thank you for such a detailed reply. You've given me a new insight into this issue.
Thank you to others who have replied also.
Regards Kim
At 20:14 3/06/2004, you wrote:
Hi Kim,
A British friend of mine has just arrived back from time in the UK and says that the issue of Vit K and PKU is a non-issue in the area she works in (around Brighton) ie vitK is not offered after birth and the heelprick test is not talked about either.
I've just done a lot of research on vit K and did come across a paper that suggested that the British College of Midwives were debating whether or not to continue giving vitamin K . I was not researching the heelprick test.
I have discovered however that there is a vast range of regimes relating to vitamin K across the world and that the evidence supporting any one regime is pretty inconclusive - in that the new Konakion MM seems less effective than the old; the IM seems the most effective of all but has question marks re associations with childhood leukemias; very little research has been done relating to natural supplementation and vitamin K, the Dutch model is better than the oral regime offered here and consists of 1mg dose at birth followed by daily 25ug drops (of an oral K freely and cheaply available) given by the parents, the Danish do 2mg at birth followed by 1mg weekly, and in the USA there are natural drops made of alfalfa, nettle and green tea in a corn oil base which I imagine would be given to the mother as every drop is 2mg. (Research shows 5 mg per day to the mother effectively raises the newborn vit K plasma level - synthetic vitamin K that is, which is not as easily assimilated as natural vitamin K).This latter option is of course not sanctioned by the FDA.
Lots of research about synthetically derived vitamin K and next to none about naturally derived sources. Is nature really that flawed, and what exactly do these very elevated levels we inject or give orally to our babies do to them?
Another of those questions I believe akin to the vaccination debate.
I guess the most unanswered question was how do you determine if a baby has died of vit K deficiency related to its diet or whether it has died of liver or malabsorption problems which effectively reduce the synthesisation of vitamin K to nothing. As Sara Wickham says in her book, 'some of thes cases of HDN (Haemorrhagic Disease of the Newborn) could not have been prevented by vitamin K in any form'.
Most of the deaths in regard to vitamin K are in the late onset bracket and most of these babies have underlying liver or cholestatic disorders which are not obvious(ie no prolonged jaundice or bruising or obvious bleeding like all the texts say should occur). Interestingly too, most of the deaths occur in spring/summer (reasearch from Japan, Germany and England) and 2:1 males too, so is there an environmental and or genetic picture here as well??
Lots to think about eh?? Sue
Hi everyone,
I was hoping you wouldn't mind answering a question I have.
I have been doing a bit of study over the past 18 months and two of my subjects are Anat&Phys and Pathology. Recently, in class vitamin K injections became the topic of conversation and when asked whether midwives would administer the vitamin K shot or not my lecturer, who is also an anesthetist, advised of course they would, along with the heel prick test.
Can you tell me, is this actually true. I'd love to hear your feedback.
Regards Kim Your friendly list admin :-)
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