People taking blood-thinning medications take been told in the past to limit their vitamin K intake. Some researchers at present say that may not be the best advice.

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Some experts say people taking warfarin should be told to increase their intake of vitamin K, not decrease it. Getty Images

Patients taking blood-thinning drugs such equally warfarin are told past doctors to reduce their intake of vitamin K because information technology's believed besides much of this vitamin tin decrease the drug's effectiveness.

This is due to the conventionalities that the vitamin interacts with the torso's clotting procedure and can interfere with the drug'south blood-thinning properties.

Merely what if this communication is wrong?

According to a new clinical trial, people taking these drugs should actually be told to increase the corporeality of vitamin K they consume.

This clinical trial is the first randomized controlled trial testing how people taking warfarin responded to dietary changes aimed at increasing vitamin Grand intake.

The study included nearly fifty patients with a history of anticoagulation instability, which is an disability to maintain healthy levels of blood clotting.

Half of the participants were provided dietary counseling sessions and cooking lessons that offered full general nutritional advice.

The rest attended counseling sessions and received cooking lessons that focused specifically on increasing consumption of vitamin Chiliad–rich vegetables, oils, and herbs.

"Light-green and leafy vegetables such equally spinach, broccoli and lettuce are rich in vitamin Thousand. As well, foods such as kiwi, asparagus and soybeans are skillful sources of vitamin K," Dr. Brandie Williams, FACC, a cardiologist at Texas Health Stephenville, told Healthline.

Six months after the study began, 50 percent of the participants who were taught to increase their vitamin G intake were all able to maintain stable anticoagulation levels.

But 20 per centum of those receiving full general nutritional counseling achieved a similar comeback.

Guylaine Ferland, lead study writer and professor of nutrition at Université de Montréal and scientist at the Montreal Heart Institute Research Centre, said the findings suggest patients on warfarin would significantly benefit from consuming at least 90 micrograms of vitamin M per day for women and 120 micrograms per 24-hour interval for men.

Warfarin is used to forbid blood clots from forming and is oftentimes used for medical conditions such equally an irregular heartbeat, clots in the veins of the body called deep-vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, and later on a heart valve replacement.

Williams explained the reasoning behind the current recommendations.

"Vitamin M is office of the complex process needed for the body to make clots, and warfarin blocks this procedure," she said. "So eating too many foods rich in vitamin 1000 is believed to cause warfarin to become less effective and cause more clotting in the body."

"I recollect all warfarin-treated patients would benefit from increasing their daily vitamin 1000 intake," Ferland said in a argument.

She added that "given the directly interaction between dietary vitamin M and the action of the drug, information technology is of import that [higher] daily vitamin K intakes be as consequent as possible."

"Our hope is that healthcare professionals will cease advising warfarin-treated patients to avoid light-green vegetables," she said.

Williams agreed.

"Clinically, this may prevent patients on warfarin from having likewise many highs and lows on their INRs, the International Normalized Ratio blood examination used to monitor how thick or thin the blood is," she said. "This could requite more consistency to the patient's blood clotting ability."

Only she cautioned that "while the information in this trial is thought-provoking for physicians, larger studies will need to be conducted before significant changes can be fabricated in patient care."

Apart from the findings of this clinical trial, there are other medications and vitamins that can touch how warfarin works. These include:

  • prescription medications, such as the common antibiotics azithromycin and ciprofloxacin
  • nonprescription medications such equally naproxen, aspirin, and ibuprofen, which are mutual nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
  • vitamin preparations containing large amounts of vitamin Due east or vitamin C

Alcohol consumption may also influence the way your trunk metabolizes warfarin.

The American Eye Association (AHA) recommends that men shouldn't have more than one or two drinks per day and women should limit themselves to about one drink per day when taking warfarin.

Like almost any prescription drug, warfarin users may experience side effects.

Symptoms that indicate you should phone call your doc include:

  • bleeding and major hemorrhage
  • bruising easily
  • "majestic toe syndrome," a type of peel destruction (necrosis)

For patients who are told they need to take a blood thinner and are concerned about these issues, there are newer medications bachelor called direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs).

This class of drugs includes apixaban, rivaroxaban, and others.

DOACs are shorter acting than warfarin, don't crave blood examination monitoring for bleeding and clotting risk, and have fewer drug and food interactions than warfarin.

Warfarin is a drug prescribed to patients at risk of unsafe blood clots.

It tin can deadening the body's product of clotting factors, which are produced using vitamin K.

New research finds levels of vitamin K in a person's diet can improve, rather than impede the effects of warfarin.

Notwithstanding, in that location are other vitamins and medications that will affect people taking warfarin, and care must exist taken when using them.