Comprehensive list of foods and their Vitamin K content?

[T in YVR]

Hi,

Has anyone come across a really good comprehensive list of foods and their Vitamin K content? I have Googled this fairly extensively and found partial lists of the top foods that are highest and lowest in vitamin K. But I have not found a single list that covers a really wide range of foods. I find myself wondering what the vitamin K content is of every food or drink I put in my mouth...Hopefully that thought process passes and I don't think about it so much If anyone has a good link or list, I'd love to see it,

Thanks,
Tony

 

[dick0236]

Hi,

Has anyone come across a really good comprehensive list of foods and their Vitamin K content? ...........I find myself wondering what the vitamin K content is of every food or drink I put in my mouth...Hopefully that thought process passes and I don't think about it so much

Thanks,
Tony

The only ones I pay any attention to are the leafy green vegetable family(kale, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, etc).....and I don't pay a lot of attention to those. Eat and enjoy whatever you like.....just don't "pig out". Adjust the dose....not the diet!!!

 

[Protimenow]

I"m with Dick on this. The hysteria of a decade or two ago about completely eliminating Vitamin K from the diet has waned. Now, it's clear that we all need Vitamin K. The trick, if possible, is to be fairly consistent in your intake of Vitamin K-containing foods (and, as Dick noted, most of the leafy greens have pretty high levels). If you have a meter, you can keep good track of your INR.

The mantra here has been 'dose the diet, don't diet the dose.' You should be able to eat all the Vitamin K foods you want, if you monitor your INR and adjust your dosage appropriately. (And too many changes to warfarin dosage, too quickly, can cause a 'roller coaster' effect, so you may want to proceed rather carefully).

 

[pellicle]

Hi

I find myself wondering what the vitamin K content is of every food or drink I put in my mouth...

I agree here with these guys (and iterate what I said on the other post) .. darker the green the more vitamin K in it. Knowing numbers is pointless. Sure dried herbs may have more vit K per 100g serving but I'm more likely to eat 100g of broccoli than dried basil (or Cayenne peppers for that matter).

In the end it really doesn't make a big difference, start plotting your INR, don't panic about some variance (as it happens) and don't vary your dose unless there is a significiant reason. For reference is my current INR chart below:

you can see that its varied naturally, but varied worse when I fiddle with the dose ... none the less, inside the 2.2 ~ 3 range > 80% of the time.

so, to keep it simple: if its green its got Vitamin K and so moderate it. That cuts down a lot of things you may put in your mouth (like drinks and veges that aren't green and meats) that you no longer need to worry about



PS: my idea of "watching what I eat" is to basically make sure food gets from the plate into my mouth without falling in my lap or onto my shirt.

while I may seem flippant about this the point is "eat sensibly" and you'll be fine.

 

[chaconne]

I agree with others as well. I wouldn't worry about most foods except for maybe Kale and Spinach. Even then you would need to eat a big bowl of it several days in a row to make a big difference in INR (from my experience). The one thing I did notice that seemed to affect my INR was Cranberry juice. I had a 1 glass a day several days in a row and it may have contributed to my INR jumping from 2.9 up to 3.8 in 2 days.

 

[Stopper]

I am fairly new to this, so I am trying to maintain consistency in my vitamin K intake. I know the data suggest that warfarin patients are not in therapeutic range about 50% of the time. That scares me, so I downloaded an app onto my phone that give me the amount of vitamin k in food. The app is vitamin K by inutrient

 

[Protimenow]

Research also shows that if you self-test regularly (I'm a big proponent of weekly testing), you will stay in range even more often. Being conservative about dosing changes can help avoid any spikes in INR, other than those that naturally occur to all of us. It's the BIG changes in dosing that seem to start the INR Roller Coaster.
(I also suggest, if at all possible, that you take the same dose every day -- this way, your INR would reflect a relatively steady state, rather than a value that's related to an earlier dose).

 

[newmitral]

Hello Tony,

Although I agree that you should eat whatever you want, and just try to be fairly consistent in your diet, I do notice that nobody has actually answered your question.

So, to find a comprehensive listing of foods with Vitamin-K (and many other nutrients) content, I recommend the USDA National Nutrient Database, which is searchable online here:

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

Use the "nutrients" tab and select "Vitamin-K" as the nutrient. It currently lists 4,871 foods found for this report when I asked for the Vitamin-K report.
You can download the report as a pdf after you do the online search.

Something actually useful that our tax dollars helped pay for.

The data is useful for information purposes, but I wouldn't worry about vitamin-K content unless your diet is very unusual.

 

[T in YVR]

Thanks - yes, I am all for "dose the diet"....just want to be as informed as I can. NewMitral/Stopper - thanks for the list and app - pretty comprehensive.....

T

 

[dick0236]

I am fairly new to this, so I am trying to maintain consistency in my vitamin K intake. I know the data suggest that warfarin patients are not in therapeutic range about 50% of the time.

Consistency is the key. I try to include some "greens"(cooked or salad) in most of my evening meals......but I have never measured my vit K intake. I also know that the amount of vit K I normally consume has little effect on my INR although the effect is enough for me "tweak" my INR when necessary. I have heard the "50% out of range" comments before and doubt that they are true for any patient who has been schooled on the importance of proper INR management. My personal experience is more like 20% and those readings are only a few tenths above or below my therapeutic range of 2.5-3.5.

 

[Freddie]

Tony, if you haven't already you could check out www.DrGourmet.com - I printed out 7 pages from this site.

And when you figure out how much a "mcg (micro gram) per severing" actually is, let me know please.

But I do agree with the others, but I must confess, that I'm the most inconsistent person around here I'm sure, oh and I do have a beer once in a while.

 

[Agian]

It's great that wine doesn't effect INR.
What about lettuce and cucumber?

 

[pellicle]

Hi

I know the data suggest that warfarin patients are not in therapeutic range about 50% of the time.

well don't be scared too much, as there is something you can do about it. The data (probably you have been reading US data) actually suggests something different to what you've said.

Essentially in the US (I'm Australian btw) the research divides things into:
Usual Care - where a clinic looks after everything and you are a passive recipient
Patient Self Testing - where the patient makes a measurement at home and sends in the data
Patient Self Care - where the patient is totally responsible for measurement and dosing. Just like daibetics are

As I understand it Time In Range under UC was about 50% with PST 89%.

I'm doing PSM and my TIR is about 98% based on my weekly (and occasionally dialy) measurement.

A study by the Mayo identified:
- only 1% of USA use PST
- 60% of clinics in the USA prohibit PST (something to do with money and insurance)

so there you have it in a brief nutshell.

No need to be scared, no need to go and alter your lifestyle (well unless you are big on vegan basil and spinnache in soya milk blends). I only spend 15 mins a week
*doing my testing,
* adding it to a spreadsheet
* examining my graph
* putting the pills for the week into my container

other than that that's the entirety of my management. Going to clinics (which I have done) is a drag and made me feel 'out of control' and worried.

have a beer / wine / burbon and relax

 

[pellicle]

I do notice that nobody has actually answered your question.

So, to find a comprehensive listing of foods with Vitamin-K (and many other nutrients) content, I recommend the USDA National Nutrient Database, which is searchable online here:

I'd answered it in his other thread by mistake .. but that's a really good list too btw, better than the links I suggested.

 

[pellicle]

It's great that wine doesn't effect INR.

isnt it just ;-)

What about lettuce and cucumber?

never seen anything in my INR data, but then I don't eat 100g of lettuce daily (and iceberg lettuce, which is the heaviest, has almost no Vitamin K AFAIK) and cucumber is something I only have some slices of ... not usually a whole cucumber in a go.

PS, just using that list (saved to a file on my PC) I see that for 100g of lettuce that iceberg has 24micrograms of K while the "green leaf lettuce" (who thought of that name?) had 126micrograms

Cucumber had 7micrograms per 100g re-enforcing my view that its not significant in my diet.

 

[Agian]

Well to be honest with you, I thought you had been de-alcoholising wine for this reason. Then when I read you were in Finland, I got worried that you might attempt to de-alcoholise their Vodka and end up in jail.

 

[pellicle]

Hi

Well to be honest with you, I thought you had been de-alcoholising wine for this reason.

nope, mainly because I don't want the alcohol effect, I enjoy the taste of the wine and have never liked being drunk. Also by taking out the alcohol it has significantly less calories (I seem to recall discussing this?)
Anyway (http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2013/06/just-for-taste-of-it.html)

so its win win win

Then when I read you were in Finland, I got worried that you might attempt to de-alcoholise their Vodka and end up in jail.

well as long as I sell the unwanted by-product to the gypsies I'll be covered ;-)

PS:at least one previous discussion here

 

[Agian]

They reckon a glass or two a day is good for your heart. The party line is that you have two alcohol-free days a week; probably to prevent you from becoming an alcoholic. I have a glass of red wine in the evenings and that's it. On occasions, I might have more. I don't like getting drunk either (not anymore anyway).

 

[big_L]

I bought a copy of this book just after surgery. I like it as it has both an alphabetical section and then the same foods relisted in descending K content.

I stay away from Kale, spinach and the like. I also cut way back on the prunes, which is used to snack on all day long. I replaced these with raisins, which are much lower in K. Other than that, I've stopped worrying about it.

 

[pellicle]

They reckon a glass or two a day is good for your heart.

well as this is said about wines more than vodka I'm assuming its to do with whats in wine and isn't in vodka. Which takes alcohol out of the equation.

That being said my wine process reduces the alcohol, not removes it.

I have found that now with my mechanical valve I really don't enjoy lying in bed with a 120 heart rate, and I only need 2 glasses to attain that!

The party line is that you have two alcohol-free days a week; probably to prevent you from becoming an alcoholic. I have a glass of red wine in the evenings and that's it. On occasions, I might have more. I don't like getting drunk either (not anymore anyway).

well I often end up having one making dinner and second second with dinner and wanting a third with the movie. So buying $3 Shiraz at Dan Murphys and dealchoing it means I can drink half a bottle in an evening, get less calories than coke and enjoy what I'm sipping.

amazingly my heating method makes the "bowlers run" (nicknamed 'ebola runns' in my circle of mates) taste better than "neat".


win win ;-)