Anticoagulant Diet

Anticoagulant Diet. It is estimated that 60,000- 100,000 Americans die every year as a result of these blood clots occurring in blood vessels or due to related conditions such as stroke (Waldron, & Moll, 2016). Among these disorders are cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, pulmonary embolism (PE), deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and arteriosclerosis. When a blood clots in the blood vessels it prevents blood carrying oxygen and nutrients from flowing to various body tissues hence causing the death of cells. Blood thickness and thinness is the main common factor influencing the occurrence of blood clots in blood vessels. Cholesterol present in the blood, especially the low-density cholesterol (LDC) greatly contributes to blood thickening and a little more vitamin K accelerates its ease to coagulate.
Anticoagulant diet therapy is more effective in keeping the vitamin K level in check due to its low dose of anticoagulant compounds as opposed to commercially available anticoagulants. Patients who are suffering from the blood clot associated illnesses such as stroke, DVC and PE are best placed under anticoagulant diet therapy to prevent the development of associated side effect of commercially available anticoagulant doses. Before using commercially available blood thinners, the health care personnel need to carry out a prothrombin-time (PT) test on a patient to determine how fast their blood clots (Waldron, & Moll, 2016). Patients with hemophilia and kidney disorders should receive any anticoagulant therapy.

Anticoagulant diet may worsen hemophilic condition even with minor injuries and surgeries. For those patients with kidney complication, blood thinning will increase blood cells present in urine thus may cause anemia and lowers immunity.
There are two main options to counteract the effectiveness of vitamin K which is majorly responsible for blood clotting. One is through the use of commercial blood thinners such as Heparin (Fragmin), Apixaban (Eliquis) and Warfarin (Coumadin) and secondly, is by consuming anticoagulant diets. Their anticoagulant property works by inhibiting Vitamin K activating enzyme vitamin K1epoxide reductase (Powers, Derdeyn, Biller, Coffey, Hoh, Jauch, & Meschia, 2015). Anticoagulant diets are cheap locally available supplementary diets, and spices with anticoagulant the above anticoagulant property. These diets are rich in blood thinning compounds such as omega 3 fatty acids, salicylates and vitamin E which is known to antagonize vitamin K. However; some studies warn that commercially available anticoagulant drugs cause fatal hemorrhage from crucial tissue, organs (Powers et al., 2015).
Consumables rich in salicylates include spices such as ginger, curry powder and licorice fruits such as oranges, grapes, tangerines, and prunes (Powers et al., 2015). Cider, honey, wine, and vinegar are also very rich in salicylates. Also, Omega 3 fatty acids are effective and have a double effect on burning cholesterol and having the anti-coagulating effect and it is found in fatty fish. Vitamin E is found in green vegetables, though it is argued that the vegetables rich in vitamin E come along with vitamin K thus reducing their effectiveness.
There are a variety of foods with anticoagulant properly available locally. Therefore, patients with cultural restrictions to some of the anticoagulant diets have a variety to choose from (Waldron, & Moll, 2016). For instance, patients who cannot eat fish can choose their favorite spices, chewing gums, honey and fruits such as oranges.
For anticoagulant diets to be effective, a patient needs to reduce the intake of vitamin K rich foods such as most green vegetables and fruits such as avocados (Waldron, & Moll, 2016). Drinks with high alcohol contents are associated with blood clotting due to their high levels of LDC. Therefore, alcohol should be avoided for the effectiveness of anticoagulant diets. Vegetables with vitamin E are known to come along with vitamin K which undermines their effectiveness in blood thinning.
A constant intake of blood thinners and elimination of vitamin K in the diet can be dangerous (Waldron, & Moll, 2016). Lack of vitamin K may result in excessive bleeding and patients using blood thinners are at higher risks of excessive bleeding even with minor injuries. Patients on commercial blood thinners should not alter their dietary pattern while under this medication to avoid such complications associated with high level of blood thinners such as internal bleeding. Foods rich in salicylates, still contain a fraction of 81mg daily prescription contained in aspirin (Waldrons & Moll, 2016). Most fruits contain only 1mg of salicylates per kg, which is far much below the daily prescription. Omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin E also occurs in small quantities in anticoagulant diets. However, their anticoagulant capability should not be underestimated since active and regular intake of these supplements brings anticoagulant effects in the long run. It is recommended that the patient under commercial blood thinners should limit or totally avoid anticoagulant food supplements. This is because commercial anticoagulants already contain the maximum dosage and any additional may cause hemorrhage.
Recent studies advocates for the adoption of the nutrition based therapeutic techniques for patients with chronic conditions such as stroke, hypertension and deep vein thrombosis (Waldron & Moll, 2016). This is because while having anticoagulant benefits it has its basic nutritional value to the body. It also minimizes the risk of the side effects associated with the conventional medical treatment which may have adverse effects on patients.
References
Powers, W. J., Derdeyn, C. P., Biller, J., Coffey, C. S., Hoh, B. L., Jauch, E. C., … & Meschia, J. F. (2015). 2015 American Heart Association/American Stroke Association focused update of the 2013 guidelines for the early management of patients with acute ischemic stroke regarding endovascular treatment: a guideline for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Stroke, 46(10), 3020-3035.
Waldron, B., & Moll, S. (2016). Natural supplements, herbs, vitamins, and food: do some prevent blood clots.