Gardening,lettuce and Vitamin K...

coffeelover · May 22, 2012

Does anyone know which varieties of home grown lettuce have the lowest levels of Vitamin K?

AgilityDog · May 22, 2012

Dose your diet, don't diet your dose. Add in/swap the lettuce and see if your dose needs adjusted.

Bill B · May 22, 2012

It doesn't hurt to know the virtmin K content of foods. This is the best reference.
Alphabetical:
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR16-1/wtrank/16-1a430.pdf

Note that lettuce in general is quite low in vitmain K. My thumbnail summary of vitmain K content is the darker green and leafier, the more it has. Romaine is darker than iceberg and there fore has more. That doesn't mean it should be avoided. You just need to be paying attention. If you look up lettuce in this list, note the portion sizes when you make comparisions. 100mcg of vitmain K is a common daily amount.

Here's the list by decreasing content, but note that portion sizes are mixed. The first link for lettuce is by the head. Way further down you will find a more reasonable serving size.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/SR17/wtrank/sr17w430.pdf

dick0236 · May 22, 2012

I believe that romaine may have a little more vitK than iceburg, but it isn't a big deal. I doubt that I could eat enough lettuce in salads, etc. to have a real effect on my INR. Like AgilityDog says, dose your diet, don't diet your dose. This vit K content in foods has been blown way out of proportion. A good, well balanced diet of various green leafy stuff is good for me and I have never given much thought to vit K....that said, I would not eat Kale greens every day for a month.

Protimenow · May 22, 2012

The once nearly total avoidance of sources of Vitamin K (does anyone remember The Coumadin Cookbook?) has given way to a more sensible approach to Vitamin K and anticoagulation. It's been found that regular intake of Vitamin K can actually make it EASIER to manage your INR.

As others have said 'dose the diet, don't diet the dose.' What this means, basically, is that your intake of lettuce (or, for that matter, any food), should be fairly consistent. Based on this consistent intake, you should be able to test your INR and make appropriate adjustments. Unless you change your diet, take antibiotics, drink a LOT, or do other things that it's been suggested may alter INRs, your INR should stay pretty stable.

coffeelover · May 22, 2012

Bill,
Thank you for sharing the info and websites.Will check these references out and see what I kind find out about Vit. K levels found in different varieties of lettuce. Still have time to get lettuce planted--skipping spinach this year. Never was that crazy about it anyway!

coffeelover · May 23, 2012

Definatley is important to be consistent with diet. Will be interetsting to see if INR changes with a diet change of switching to homegrown lettuce.

Bill B · May 23, 2012

Although spinach and a few other dark green leafy veggies are high in vitamin K, that's no reason to avoid them, as others are indicating as well. I have some occasionally. As long as you don't eat some ridiculous quantity, it's not going to have that much effect. The idea is to be consistent over time. If you like spinach, eat it regularly. I simply eat it sporadically. When it appears, I don't avoid it. But on average over weeks, I eat roughtly a similar amount. I actually pay very little attention to anything but the darkest green veggies. You know, it is a good idea to have a decent amount of vitamin K in your diet.