What to eat on warfarin

[Knavesmire27]

Hi, I am fairly new to Warfarin and have the list of foods from the NHS that should be avoided but then I read articles that mention other foods. For example I love Thai Green Curry but one website says this should be avoided. Then there are things like Red Leicester Cheese - some websites say this is a mature cheese and should be avoided. I am so confused. Anyone got any tips on where I can find a comprehensive list. Thank you

[GillyA]

Hi there, the advice these days is not to avoid foods, but to eat a balanced and consistent diet and for the Anticoagulation clinic to set the dosage around that. So don’t try to micromanage what you eat, but look to eat consistently ( eg a good portion of greens every day) your diet will be healthier and more balanced and you’ll be much less stressed. So don’t cut that Thai curry out if that’s what you like.

[Knavesmire27 in reply to GillyA]

Thank you 😊

[moo196]

Best advice I was given was to dose the diet , don't diet the dose.

[bikebabe]

I’ve been on warfarin three times now and advice has changed each time. I now eat my normal diet, take my normal supplements and the dose is adjusted - taken 6 weeks to get it right but INR now it’s 2.5 most weeks.

[Mydvt]

I think it is more of a case of seeing how what you eat affects your INR as we are all different. The only things I have cut out is cranberries in any form, the same for grapefruit, so that is easy. Alcohol will affect your INR so you need to start with low amounts and see what effect it has on your INR. For me I stopped drinking any short drinks such as whiskey or gin as I found that with the high percentage of these drinks it was far to easily to go over my safe limits but I still drink wine and beer which do affect my INR however I know how to adjust my warfarin dose to keep my INR in my range. So yes I have made some changes but I basically eat what I like which includes cheese and plenty of greens and I don't think about it as my dose of warfarin fits into what I eat and drink, not the other way around.

[Knavesmire27 in reply to Mydvt]

Thank you all for your advice. It really does help me feel a bit easier about my diet. Thank you 😊

[Suebo2 Moderator]

I used to be an anticoagulation nurse. Please do not worry about what you can and cannot eat. Please eat a normal healthy diet. The problem comes when you eat loads of dark green veg one day and then none for ages. It is all about consistency. Stress has a huge effect on your INR so please don’t worry about food. If you want a glass of wine etc, have one regularly, and not loads on a Saturday and then none- that will make your INR peak. As time goes on you will know how your body reacts and be able to adjust your warfarin accordingly.

In summary, don’t worry, just have a healthy diet Good luck.

[Knavesmire27 in reply to Suebo2]

Thank you

[Julie_O in reply to Suebo2]

Hi Suebo2,

How does stress affect INR? I take sinthrome, and test at home. My INR is all over the place. I am suffering a huge amount of stress at work at the moment, and one week I test and I’m below 2.0 so have to have an injection of anticoagulant, and now I’ve just tested and I am 5.1. My range is between 2.5 and 3.5 because I have two mechanical valves.

Thank you, Julie

[Suebo2 Moderator in reply to Julie_O]

I’ve run an Anticoag clinic for a while and it is clear when patients are under stress. Mechanism for this is unknown but may be related to decreased metabolism of warfarin during stress. If your INR goes up when stressed that would back up that assumption.

There is also some good dialogue and discussion about taking a v small amount of bit K to stabilise your INR. The jury is out on this but it is also clear that this works in some people, mainly because some people eat varying amounts of food containing big k and we all metabolise things in different ways. We did have a patient on vit k- minuscule amounts- and it worked. But you can find papers indicating against use of daily vit k.

Some generic over the counter vitamins contain vit k and some don’t, so altering the type of vitamins can also change things.

Generally, stay calm, eat a good diet and don’t worry about what you eat- there just needs to be consistency.

Take care.