what foods to avoid while on coumadin?

Question

I am looking for a list of foods that you should avoid eating while taking the drug Coumadin or Warfarin
can you please tell where I can find such a list
thank you

Answer 1

For the reason that Coumadin works by preventing the formation of clotting factors that are dependent on the ingestion of vitamin K, HIGH INTAKE of foods with high Vitamin K content could weaken the effect of coumadin. Therefore intake of foods that are high in vitamin K should be avoided in large quantities, but not altogether. REMEMBER that you need to eat a balanced diet even when you are in coumadin so it means you need not to avoid all the foods that has Vitamin K but you need to LIMIT HIGH INTAKE of those. High in vitamin K can decrease the effect of coumadin but on the other hand, lowering your vitamin K intake can increase its effect. You then should try to eat a normal, balanced diet keeping the amount of vitamin K the same everyday.

Example of foods with large amounts of Vitamin K that high intake should be avoided are as follows:
>>Dark green leafy foods and vegetables such as broccoli,spinach, parsley,turnips green, mustard green, brussels sprouts, horse radish, Swiss chard, coriander, collard green, kale, cabbage,etc.
>>Liver
>>Some legumes and vegetable oils

In addition, you have to AVOID intake of cranberries, cranberry juice, or cranberry herbal products. Avoid drinking alcohol too. Those can increase the effects of coumadin and can cause bleeding problems .

Chewing tobacco can also alter the effects of Coumadin.

As always, it is important to talk to your doctor about the changes of the amount of those foods in your diet.Checking your "INR" is also very important while you are on coumadin.

Answer 2

The main one I can think of is concentrated grapefruit juice. People like to drink that as part of dieting, but it inhibits the metabolism of warfarin in the liver. Another one to avoid is St. John's wort, which increases the metabolism of warfarin. A small amount of alcohol increases warfarin's effects, but for alcoholics, the effects are decreased because the liver makes extra enzyme to try to get rid of all the alcohol.

There are others if you want to read about them:

http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/health/Drug/Warfarin.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warfarin#Antagonism

Answer 3

You want to limit your consumption of foods rich in Vitamin K, e.g. spinach, etc. But your INR should be monitored regularly irrespective of what you're eating or avoiding.