Vitamin K content of Australian-grown horticultural commodities

Vitamin K is a multi-function vitamin that has emerging roles in bone, brain and vascular health. Vitamin K composition data remain limited globally and Australia has lacked nationally representative data for vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) in horticultural commodities. Primary samples (n = 927) of 90 Australian-grown fruit, vegetable and nut commodities were purchased in three Australian cities. We measured vitamin K1/phylloquinone in duplicate in 95 composite samples using liquid chromatography with electrospray ionisation-tandem mass spectrometry. The greatest mean concentrations of vitamin K1/phylloquinone were found in kale (565 μg/100 g), baby spinach (255 μg/100 g) and Brussels sprouts (195 μg/100 g). The data contribute to the global collection of vitamin K food composition data. They add to the evidence that vitamin K1/phylloquinone concentrations vary markedly between geographic regions, supporting development of region-specific datasets for national food composition databases that do not yet contain data for vitamin K. Such data are needed globally.