Cabbage has a reputation for packing plenty of vitamin K. Raw green cabbage contains about 59.4 micrograms per 100 grams, while the red variety provides about 32.3 micrograms.
Those numbers sound substantial until you look at a few other foods. Fermented soybeans and several leafy green vegetables can provide far more vitamin K per serving, with one Japanese staple standing far above cabbage.
Natto Packs an Impressive Amount of Vitamin K
Natto is a Japanese food made by fermenting soybeans with bacteria. Fermentation gives the beans their sticky texture, strong aroma, and flavor that can take some getting used to.
Around 3 ounces, or 85 grams, of natto provides about 850 micrograms of vitamin K. Natto is known as a source of vitamin K2, while leafy green vegetables tend to provide vitamin K1.
Natto can be served with rice, added to salads, spread over toast, or paired with other savory ingredients. Different types also vary in texture, from whole fermented beans to chopped versions.
Collard and Turnip Greens Leave Cabbage Behind
Leafy greens are another place to look for vitamin K. A half-cup of boiled collard greens contains about 530 micrograms, while the same amount of boiled turnip greens provides about 426 micrograms.
Both can be cooked as a side dish, added to soups, or mixed with other vegetables. Cooking also reduces their volume, making a half-cup serving more concentrated than the same volume of raw leaves.
Spinach and kale add more options. Fresh spinach provides about 145 micrograms per cup, while a cup of raw kale contains about 113 micrograms.
Broccoli Has More Than You Might Expect
Broccoli isn’t always the first vegetable associated with vitamin K, but a half-cup of chopped broccoli contains about 110 micrograms.
Roasting, steaming, or sautéing broccoli makes it easy to add to dinner without building the meal around leafy greens. It can also go into pasta, soups, salads, and pesto.
Serving size matters when comparing these numbers, since a half-cup of cooked greens isn’t equivalent in weight to a cup of raw cabbage or an 85-gram serving of natto.
Cabbage Is Still Worth Eating
Finding foods with more vitamin K doesn’t take anything away from cabbage. Green cabbage still provides vitamin K along with fiber and other nutrients, and it can be eaten raw, roasted, sautéed, braised, or added to soups and slaws.
Recommended vitamin K intake also isn’t enormous. Adult men need about 120 micrograms per day and adult women about 90 micrograms, according to the figures cited in the source.
One important consideration applies to anyone taking warfarin or another medication affected by vitamin K intake. Large changes in vitamin K consumption can interfere with treatment, so intake should be discussed with a healthcare professional rather than changed based on a list of high-vitamin-K foods.
Cabbage may have been the vegetable that put vitamin K on your radar, but natto, collard greens, turnip greens, spinach, kale, and broccoli show how many other ways there are to get it.
Which of these vitamin K-rich foods do you eat most often?
