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If you are like me, you will always be searching for new ways to give yourself an extra edge and make continued improvements to your health. I have tried a million and one hacks for more energy, to perform better in the gym, to maintain my waistline (an ever more challenging escapade at almost 44), increase my antioxidant intake, fatty acid intake, enhance the nutrient density of my diet. You name it. 

Vitamin K is probably one of the least talked about nutrients yet one of the most vital throughout life. Vitamin K is actually a group of fat soluble nutrients that can come for a variety of foods and can get stored in fatty tissues in the body.

Vitamin K1 also known as phylloquinone, is found abundantly in foods such as green leafy vegetables. When we consume this form it gets converted by the bacteria that lives in the gut into K2 or more accurately, a drop of compounds called menaquinones, which are variants of K2. Menaquinones, being bacterial in origin are also found in some animal products and fermented foods. So why is it so important and what does it do?

Regulates blood clotting

 Without vitamin K our body cannot produce prothrombin. This is a substance that is involved in regulating blood clotting, and also affects bone metabolism. Prothrombin is turned into thrombin which then turns fibrinogen into fibrin which, along with platelets makes a blood clot. 

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Vitamin C is likely the most well known nutrient when it comes to supporting immunity and keeping the immune system healthy. Whilst clinical trials testing its efficacy as an intervention in an infection have yielded mixed results, we know that vitamin C certainly does have important roles to play within the immune system and many aspects of immunity. 

Accumulates in phagocytes

One thing that is certainly clear is that vitamin C can accumulate in phagocytic leukocytes (phagocytic means engulf pathogens, leukocytes are the technical term for white blood cells). Neutrophils and Monocytes accumulate vitamin C to notably high concentrations, 50 – 100 times higher than serum concentrations. There isn’t a complete understanding of why this accumulation occurs, but it is clear that there is a reason for this accumulation, nature doesn’t do these things without need or reason. 

Enhances neutrophil chemotaxis

Neutrophil chemotaxis is an important...

The ketogenic diet has become one of the biggest dietary movements of our time, neck and neck almost to veganism. Now you all know that I am a huge proponent of plants being a dominant feature of our diet. But, that being said, whilst I do eat ungodly amounts of green vegetables, I do veer very close to the low carb high fat diet, and always do extremely well on it. Im not true kept, but not far off.

The true ketogenic diet will find 70% of its entire energy intake coming from fat. This son makes the body choose fat as a preferred fuel source. Whilst we have often been taught that glucose if the primary fuel source for Humans and that we need a healthy supply of glucose, that isn’t completely accurate as such. Glucose is an effective and EASILY utilised fuel source that our body can rapidly turn into ATP – the energy currency our body actually runs on, and is an energy source that can be stored in the form of glycogen. But, our body is adaptable. It has had to be through...

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that has become one of the most highly talked about substances in the body in decades. Most widely known as our body’s own in built antidepressant and feel good chemical, everyone is talking about it, and if you type it into social media…buckle up! Everyone wants to boost serotonin. Increase levels of serotonin. Get more serotonin, yet know very little about it.  It is a media darling right now, and with this has come profound misunderstanding and myths, one of which I am pretty sure you will be familiar with. So, with that in mind let's take a look at what serotonin is, what it does and most importantly where it does what, then look at the myths that abound around it.

What IS Serotonin?

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, and a hormone, depending where it is found. A neurotransmitter  means that it is a substance that relays messages between nerve cells or a nerve cell and a target tissue such as a muscle or a gland. As you...

Leaky gut is a condition that for a long time was dismissed as non existent, yet now it is accepted and its development and aetiology is well understood, and leaky gut symptoms are commonly reported to clinicians. With this increased understanding of the condition, it has opened up possible links in the development of autoimmune conditions. Leaky gut really just refers to increased permeability of the gut wall. The gut is semi permeable, or should we say selectively permeable. Of course it has the ability to let things pass through it, but these are things that are of benefit to us. It also has the ability to keep things out. Therefore selectively permeable. 

The gut as a barrier

The epithelial lining of the gut, along with different secretions produced by it and microbial life forms a barrier that separates us from the external environment. It is a selective and secure border between the inner workings of the body and the outside world. This lining must be able to allow...

Research around gut flora, the bacterial tribe that dwell in our gut, is one of the hottest areas in nutritional research at this time. Kings College London, The University of Cork, UCLA, and Harvard are all blazing trails in this area right now. There are a few areas of research that have yielded some rather interesting new discoveries regarding the role these bacteria can play, some are extended way beyond the local environment, which is especially interesting.

Brain health and function

Now, this is one area that is really fascinating me and that I am digging further into. Some relatively recent work at UCLA  began to make surprising discoveries that gut flora can have notable influence upon how the brain works, particularly when supplementing with probiotics. The UCLA researchers used fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to compare the emotional responses to pictures designed to stimulate different emotional responses. The participants were divided into two...