An unexpected danger of healthy eating.

[MikA]

My INR test for Warfarin went down to the low point of the doctor's permitted range this week and I wondered why it had gone down after being stable in the middle of the range for absolutely ages.
I looked on the web for Vitamin K and found the following web site

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=112

this has a list of the foods highest in Vitamin K. When I looked at the list I realised why my INR test had changed

We had lamb for Sunday lunch with a large helping of green beans and a salad with lots of tomatoes for tea.

On Monday my wife made lamb-burgers with copious amounts of Parsley and Thyme served with a salad of various lettuces and spinach leaves and lots of tomatoes.


All of the ingredients mentioned above are rated as Excellent sources of Vitamin K and having them all in larger quantities than normal in such a short space of time is almost certainly what caused my test result to go down.

I don't want to cut these foods out as they are so good to eat and good for you in other ways so I guess the lesson is to eat consistent portion sizes and freeze the excess of things like beans and not pig on them because they are soooo nice.


(for info:- Warfarin is used to stop blood clotting and help prevent strokes, Vitamin K naturally helps blood to clot amongst other things. The INR range indicates an acceptable balance between the 2. )

MikA