Ask the doctor: Is it okay to eat leafy greens while taking warfarin? - Harvard Health (2024)

FAQs

Ask the doctor: Is it okay to eat leafy greens while taking warfarin? - Harvard Health? ›

Yes, you can eat these foods in moderation if you choose to, but check with your doctor first. Just take care to eat about the same amount on a day-to-day basis. The reason? Spinach, kale, and other leafy greens are all rich in vitamin K, which plays an essential role in forming blood clots.

Common foods high in Vitamin K include kale, spinach, and broccoli. It's also found in salad dressing and mayonnaise. It's OK to eat foods high in vitamin K while taking warfarin. But you should try to be consistent with how much and how often you eat them.

Vitamin K stored in the liver will be used. This way, you can maintain you INR as stable as possible. However, if you never eat green vegetables, you don't have Vitamin K stores, so if you eat a good amount of green vegetables one day, you'll experience a “peak” of Vitamin K, which will then destabilize your INR.

Those who are prescribed a blood thinner, such as Coumadin, are told to avoid foods high in Vitamin K because this will counteract the effects of the blood thinner. Leafy vegetables (e.g. kale, collards, turnip greens, swiss chard, salad greens, parsley, spinach) are the highest sources of vitamin K.

Warfarin is a blood thinner that works by decreasing vitamin K in your body. Certain foods like leafy vegetables can affect how this medication works. You should also avoid green tea, grapefruit and cranberry juices.

Lettuce – with just a small amount of fat and a decent amount of fiber, lettuce provides many health benefits. For people who are on Warfarin, they should not consume lettuce. It contains 84% of a person's daily intake of Vitamin K.

Vitamin K aids clotting, so patients on the anti-clotting drug (or "anticoagulant") warfarin are often warned by their physicians to limit the amount of foods rich in the nutrient. These foods include green vegetables such as spinach, kale, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and several others.

Can you eat salads while taking Coumadin (warfarin)? Yes! Enjoy vegetables again with these Coumadin (warfarin)-Safe recipes for main course salads, side salads and salad dressings.

Lean protein foods, such as fish, shellfish, poultry, lean meats, eggs, beans, nuts, and tofu. Fat-free or low-fat milk and dairy products. Healthy oils, such as many vegetable oils and the oils in foods such as fish and nuts.

Eating foods that contain vitamin K can affect the way your warfarin medication works. Eating more vitamin K than usual may cause a low INR, and eating less vitamin K than usual may cause a high INR. Because of this, you should try to eat the same amount of vitamin K every day.

Does banana affect warfarin? ›

Conclusion: Concomitant use of warfarin and banana flakes supplements may result in a reduced rate and extent of diarrhea and may be associated with subtherapeutic INR and decreased warfarin efficacy.

Do not drink cranberry or grapefruit juice while you're taking warfarin. It can increase the effect of your medicine and put you at higher risk of bleeding.

INR results higher than 3.0 may put you at even higher risk for bleeding. INR results lower than 2.0 may put you at risk for developing a blood clot.

People taking warfarin must avoid eating too many foods that are high in vitamin K, but it is not necessary to avoid these foods entirely. A stable diet, containing around 60 to 80 mcg of vitamin K is desirable. People on warfarin must also ensure that they only consume alcohol in moderation.

ANSWER: Tea comes in two major types: black tea, which is fermented, and green tea, which is not. Black tea has no known interactions with warfarin (Coumadin). Green tea contains small amounts of vitamin K, which could make the INR lower and the warfarin less effective. However, the effect is likely to be small.

Vitamin K Helps Blood Clot (Thickens Blood)

This means that eating foods rich in vitamin K (primarily found in leafy green vegetables) can interact with blood thinning drugs, making them less effective. Therefore, it's important to talk with your doctor to make sure that your dosage is appropriate for your diet.

Kidney Stones, Oxalosis, & Hyperolaluria

This means that people who suffer from kidney stones or more severe conditions like oxalosis or hyperoxaluria may need to be mindful of their intake of certain leafy greens as well—especially spinach.

Because your diet is so low in vitamin K, this increase in vitamin K intake represents a huge change in your vitamin K intake for the week. For example, maybe eating the spinach salad increased your vitamin K intake by 50%. The result of this significant increase in vitamin K will be a significant drop in your INR.