Comprehensive list of foods and their Vitamin K content?

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ask yourself this question

ask yourself this question

do you really want to spend your life measuring everything you eat?

Among my friends I'm regarded as being "too technical" and when asked about this or that there is often the "Oh, and the short answer please Chris"

so, do you *really* want to be going down the fully analytical chemistry approach to your diet?

I don't ... so just eat what you like, measure your INR weekly, don't over adjust it and return to a simple life as if you weren't on any drugs.

I think its what Dick Protime and I have been trying to say in the "short answer"

(just don't forget to take the warfarin ;-)
 
FWIW.....it was 20 years post op that doctors first made me aware of the relationship between INR and vit K in foods. The ONLY thing I know is the importance of "taking warfarin as prescribed and testing routinely". Other than that, ACT is a piece of cake.
 
The USDA website that was previously mentioned is a great source for finding the nutrient values of a LOT of different foods. There are also free phone apps that can be used as well. These can be good tools to help you become familiar with what's high in K and what's actually low in K. Most people think all lettuces have about the same amount of vitamin K, which is not true. Iceberg is about 1/4 the Vitamin K of Romaine. Knowing things like this can help you stay in range, just don't let the numbers rule your life. I still eat all of the things I used to with one exception, spinach. Way too high in Vitamin K for me, especially since I don't eat it on a regular basis enough.
 
It took me a while before I felt comfortable with managing eating everything and anything without worrying! This will become natural after a while.

When I decided on mechanical valve, my surgeon warned me not to stress out about vitamin K and warfarin, as long as my diet is consistent.

I still worried!

I felt happy when my cardio-rehab nurse gave me a book listing vitamin k food! Yet, I became unhappy and stressful while trying to calculate and calculate, until I took the advice of our beautiful members here whose knowledge was gained from their personal experience.

Whatever you feel comfortable doing will be fine. But make sure to be consistent with weekly testing! Don't miss it even if your INR had been stable for while before!
 
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In my own case, I'm not entirely sure that wine has not effect on INR. I've been drinking more with my wife, lately, and my INR has hit (or exceeded) the top of my range. I'm not sure if there's much else that I've changed.

However, with regular testing, and occasionally adding a green or two, this isn't a big deal, anyway. (I'm hoping that my liver's response to the challenge of alcohol isn't what's increasing the effect of Warfarin.) Also, in earlier discussions, I recall that there is a component of Red wines that MIGHT have an impact on INR.
 
do you really want to spend your life measuring everything you eat?

Among my friends I'm regarded as being "too technical" and when asked about this or that there is often the "Oh, and the short answer please Chris"

so, do you *really* want to be going down the fully analytical chemistry approach to your diet?

I don't ... so just eat what you like, measure your INR weekly, don't over adjust it and return to a simple life as if you weren't on any drugs.

I think its what Dick Protime and I have been trying to say in the "short answer"

(just don't forget to take the warfarin ;-)

I think this was probably directed at me since I started this thread :) The answer is "No". This is about educating myself on what I put in my mouth. I'm already a very health conscious eater, have an excellent diet, read food labels, buy organic for many things etc. The AVR/Warfarin simply adds a new dimension to it. Once I fully understand the situation, I'm sure I will go back to my regular eating habits, but perhaps ensuring I am consistent about what I am eating to a greater extent (sometimes I am a bit streaky or inconsistent about what I eat such as making juicer drinks over a few days that includes kale and spinach from my garden and then not having it again for a week or 2, etc). Knowing the relative impact of various foods just helps improve decision making and how I approach things from a consistency standpoint in terms of what I eat and when. I'm not 'dieting the dose'; I'm 'dosing the diet', but with a more informed perspective.

T
 
Hi

The answer is "No". This is about educating myself on what I put in my mouth. I'm already a very health conscious eater
...I fully understand the situation, I'm sure I will go back to my regular eating habits

all good ... I posted because we also have 'lurkers' here who read and never participate. Sometimes its good to answer questions more broadly due to that.

also, I've seen my fair share of OCD responces to the horrors of warfarin ;-)

As it happens I'm a bit over analytical / ocd myself {did biochemistry and turned to the darkside (database developer)}

such as making juicer drinks over a few days that includes kale and spinach from my garden and then not having it again for a week or 2, etc).

my own experience in that area has shown that popping a extra 0.25mg covers me on those things (like when I binge on Japanese dishes that I like such as below)
spinach2.jpg


Knowing the relative impact of various foods just helps improve decision making and how I approach things

nothing beats self testing on that ... empirical data collection over theoretical projection every time. Whenever I'm sus on something I do daily testing and doument it in my XLS workbook as an 'adhoc monitor' over and above my other sheet of daily measurements. In the last year I've built up my confidence levels that my predictions of what will happen match my results.

knowledge is power ... power is comforting

but with a more informed perspective.

of course knowing the underlying theory is essential too

:)
 
Totally agree with you Pellicle. That is why I am trying to stay on top of my diet and my vitamin K intake. In fact there are studies out there that suggest those who do home monitoring actually reduce their risk of major bleeding and stroke by about 50% (couldn't remember the exact numbers). Unfortunately most people on Warfarin do not do home testing. I am still waiting for my home monitor, so I am trying to control what I eat. When you look at some of the AFib studies, in well controlled studies only about 55% of patients stayed in therapeutic range on Xarelto, and just over 60% for Pradaxa and Eliquis. And these are well controlled studies.
 
I am still waiting for my home monitor, so I am trying to control what I eat.

Stopper, what health insurance do you have and are they "cooperating" with home monitoring? I have Kaiser and I think that even if I struck out on my own and bought a meter on eBay and supplies direct, Kaiser would not want to have any part of it. I think they rely on some of their own studies, like this one: http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/content/114/5/952.long, in which they conclude that there is no significant difference in outcome.
 
I have United, and they just approved a coagucheck (spelling is probably off). For a co-pay of $46/month I will get the monitor and supplies.
 
How often will they allow you to test? Is this for a meter and weekly testing? Does this include dosing advice from a medical professional? (If not, you may still do better buying your own meter and strips....if you're in the United States, you may even be able to deduct the cost as a medical expense.)
 
At ;east once a week. Ideally, and I don't know if insurance will accept this, is to test at home each week and test at the coag clinic each week. This way I can get comfortable with the variances, and learn how to self adjust safely. With my job I am at the hospital where my coag clinic is a couple of times a week, so its very convenient.
 
Sorry, this is for training, the meter, and all the testing materials here in Colorado. I think I will be able to deduct this as a medical expense, but will need to check that out completely. Thanks
 
Hi,

Here is a link to the Govt report list of Vit K content in foods. It is a good list, and with it, you can determine if foods are Low, medium, or high Vit K valve. It does mention that the report has been superseded, but the newer version only reports the data in a different manner, which is not as easy to use as is this earlier version.

The guide values are:
Low < 30
Med 30 - 150
High > 150

Here is the link.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/12354500/Data/Classics/pt104.pdf
 
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