Texas Tech Nutrition Exit Practice Test

Vitamin K comes from two sources: dietary intake and production by gut bacteria. When someone has been eating poorly for a long time, their vitamin K stores are already low, so they rely more on the vitamin K produced by intestinal microbes. Taking broad-spectrum antibiotics can wipe out many of these bacteria, drastically reducing endogenous vitamin K production. That combination—low dietary intake plus reduced microbial synthesis—greatly increases the risk of vitamin K deficiency and associated bleeding problems. Other options don’t fit as directly. Antacids can affect absorption of fat-soluble vitamins somewhat, but they don’t routinely disrupt gut bacterial production the way antibiotics do. Diuretics and NSAIDs aren’t primary drivers of vitamin K deficiency in this scenario.