Coumadin (Warfarin) is an anti clotting drug shown to have significant benefit in protecting people with atrial fibrillation from having a stroke. Can patients on Coumadin eat all the green leafy vegetables with vitamin K, which may shorten their clotting time? The answer most emphatically is YES! Inform the physician who is monitoring the Coumadin and clotting time that you are regularly going to be eating copious amounts of healthy green leafy vegetables. He/she will appropriately adjust the Coumadin dose.

If you are on blood thinners, the key to minimizing food and drug interactions is through consistency, not avoidance. Eating a steady amount of vitamin K rich foods each day helps ensure a healthy, well-balanced body.

Coumadin (Warfarin):

Coumadin is an antivitamin K drug helpful for preventing blood clots in a few medical conditions, including atrial fibrillation. Vegetables are loaded with vitamin K and as a result, patients on Coumadin are usually told to avoid vegetables. But, vegetables are healthy. There is no real contradiction with proper treatment. When changing to a starch-based diet, the Coumadin dosage is simply adjusted in order to accomplish the desired blood thinning effects (based on periodic blood tests). Taking a little more Coumadin when needed is not a health hazard. In most cases, however, I find the change to a starch-based diet (high in vitamin K vegetables) requires no adjustment in dosage of Coumadin.

I also try to get patients with atrial fibrillation off of Coumadin. As with most conditions, many patients are over-treated. With this drug, the benefits for reducing stroke are small and the side effects (mainly bleeding), drug costs, and inconvenience (frequent blood tests) are great. The CHADS score is a helpful tool for deciding who should not be on these powerful blood-thinning drugs. (I have too little experience with the new drug Pradaxa to comment.)