Blood thinning Diet: Foods to eat and foods to avoid

Table of Content

• What is blood thinning?

• Natural blood thinning foods

• Foods to avoid while on blood thinners

• Blood thinning benefits

• Home remedies for blood thinning

• Take-Home Points

• FAQ on blood thinning foods

Introduction

The prevention of forming of blood clots due to presence of less platelets is called as blood thinning. Blood thinning is mainly achieved by a set of medications called as blood thinners. These blood thinners are also called as anticoagulants The process of thinning of blood can occur by allopathic medications , home remedies and by following a proper diet. This blog gives a detailed insight towards Natural blood thinning foods OR Best blood thinning foods and home remedies for blood thinning along with a mention of foods to be avoided while on blood thinners. 

What is blood thinning? 

The prevention of forming of blood clots due to presence of less platelets is called as blood thinning. Blood thinning is mainly achieved by a set of medications called as blood thinners. These blood thinners are also called as anticoagulants. These do not break up or dissolve the blood clot that the person has formed over time but these help in prevention of formation of new clots. The anticoagulants help in minimization or reduction of the clots that are already formed. It is very important to treat the blood clots in the blood vessels. The significance is similar to treating a stroke, heart attack or any other massive blockage.

Thinning of blood may be required if you have the following conditions:

• A disease associated with blood vessels or heart.

• An abnormal heart rhythm called arterial fibrillation 

• A heart valve replacement

• Risk of blood clots after surgery

•  Congenital heart defects

Heparin is a natural anticoagulant present in the blood. These blood thinners can be used to thin the blood a much as possible and not let the blood stick on the arteries and veins. This blog will discuss in detail about home remedies for blood thinning, natural blood thinners and blood thinning food.

Natural blood thinning foods

The type of blood thinners that dissolve the clot naturally without the use of any artificial medications are termed as natural anticoagulants or natural blood thinners. These are known to be the best blood thinning foods. The food we eat daily or some methods which we imply in our day-to-day life can be used as natural anticoagulants. These methods or food can be easily incorporated into our day-to-day life and regimen and hence are easy to follow.

Let us discuss some natural anticoagulants or natural blood thinners in this section:

Turmeric

It is also known as the golden spice. It is known to have the required anti-inflammatory and anti-coagulant properties. It is a natural remedy for the same since a good old day. 

Vitamin E

This effects the blood clotting in different ways which usually depends on the amount of vitamin E a person consumes. It is known from studies that vitamin E has blood thinning properties but it is still unclear how much amount is required for the same. 

Ginkgo Biloba

The leaves from the tree of ginkgo biloba have been used in the practice of traditional medicine since long. Ginkgo is also a very popular herbal supplement in the United States and Europe. People take it for blood disorders and memory problems.

Grape seed extract

These also act as natural blood thinning substances. It is mainly used with people with blood disorders and the one’s who take blood thinning medications.

Garlic

The concept of garlic blood thinner is a popular one. Garlic has a plethora of properties including antibiotic, antihypertensive and antithrombotic properties. It may affect platelet function and coagulation; therefore it is better to avoid them before surgery. 

Aloe

Aloe is a common natural herb used for the anti-diabetic properties, inflammation and constipation. Although it is known that it contains salicylates which make it a potential blood thinning candidate. 

Melatonin

It is a hormone produced by the human body to regulate the circadian rhythm. It is mainly taken to deal with sleep and sleeping disorders but studies have shown that small amount can be used as a blood thinner as well. 

Bromelain

This natural entity is mainly derived from pineapple. It is an enzyme with potential anti-inflammatory properties and also acts as cardiovascular remedies. It acts as a blood thinner by increasing the clotting time. 

Dong Quai

It is popularly also known as female ginseng. It helps in reduction of blood clotting as it has the sufficient amount of coumarin content to do so. It can be consumed orally in the form of a tea or soup. 

Cassia Cinnamon

This natural substance contains coumarin which is a strong blood thinner or anticoagulant. It has a higher coumarin content then other kinds of cinnamon therefore are preferred as a natural blood thinning agent. 

Foods to avoid while on blood thinners

There is a particular set of foods to avoid while on blood thinners. These do not go well with blood thinning medications and their consumption together might lead to food drug interaction which can be fatal.

Foods to avoid are :

• Any diet or food with a good amount of vitamin K should be avoided. As vitamin K is known to have blood thickening properties. 

• Leafy green vegetables like Leafy greens like kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts and lettuce.

• Green tea: It has a good amount of vitamin K content in it.

• Cranberry juice while being on blood thinners can increase the risk of bleeding.

• Grapefruit juice contains compounds that can lower the impact of blood thinners. Grapefruit mostly impacts blood-thinning medications such as Apixaban (Eliquis), Rivaroxaban (Xarelto), Clopidogrel (Plavix) and Ticagrelor (Brilinta).

• Alcohol impacts the time it will take the blood to clot. Moreover, consumption of alcohol with any kind of medications can be hazardous. 

Blood thinning benefits

Blood thinning has it’s own benefit in the field of medicine. These benefits of blood thinners can be achieved by allopathic, homeopathic and ayurvedic genre of medications as discussed: 

• Aspirin: It can help prevent a heart attack or clot-related stroke by interfering with how the blood clots. Although some side effects of aspirin as blood thinner include bleeding into the brain or stomach.

• Ayurvedic blood thinner: Curcumin containing ayurvedic medicines are known to be good blood thinners. Some of the ayurvedic blood thinners are curcumin capsules, gotu kola and arjuna capsules.

• Homeopathic blood thinner medicine :   In homeopathy, several drugs, namely, Arnica montana, Arsenicum album, Belladonna, Lachesis, Ledum palustr, Rhus Toxicodendron etc are known in clinical practice to have ability to dissolve blood clots .

• These agents have answered the query of how to make blood thin. They work around the mechanism of lowering the platelet count leading to thinning of blood. 

• Blood thinners are medicines that assist the blood flow smoothly through your veins and arteries. They also keep blood clots from forming or getting bigger. 

• Blood thinners are used for the treatment of some types of heart disease and heart defects, and other conditions that could raise your risk of getting dangerous clots.

Home remedies for blood thinning

Home remedies give us a method on how to reduce blood thickness and how to make blood thin naturally:

• In order to make blood thin by natural methods the most common way is to increase the content of garlic in the food being consumed. 

• Make turmeric the most common spice that is being used in the food prepared. The proper consumption of turmeric assists in anti-coagulation process.

• Use good amount of cayenne pepper in the daily food consumption as cayenne pepper has good number of salicylates present which helps with blood thinning. 

• Increase the consumption of food with vitamin E like wheat germ oil, sunflower, almond, pumpkin, asparagus, bell pepper, mango, avocado, peanuts and peanut butter.

• Some good pineapple recipes are also known to be good home remedies and are accounted for as blood thinning food, some of the recipes are : roasted pineapple with black pepper, pine apple salad, pina colada, pine apple juice and pine apple dip.

• Blood thinning vegetables : Garlic, ginger, ginkgo biloba, Aloe. 

Take-Home Points

• Blood thinning is an important part of one’s health. If this phenomenon does not occur properly then the effects can be fatal.

• In order to maintain natural way of blood thinning the listing of food and remedies discussed in the blog should be followed.

• In case of serious blood thinning issues, a doctor needs to be consulted and proper medication along with diet need to be consumed.

References

• AHRQ-GOV

• NIH

• NCBI

• STOPTHECLOT