Tofu/soy and warfarin?

[GreenGiant91]

Hi all,

Haven’t posted on here for a while but I’ve been lurking.

I had my valve replaced back in November (7 months exactly) with a shiny new on-x value so I’ve been on warfarin since with the range of 2.0 to 3.0. Been mostly doing well im about 90% back to normal just struggle with getting back to my normal fitness but I think this is more mental than physical at this point.

Anyhow, I lost abit of weight last year due to being sick with endocarditis then lost some more with the surgery but boy I got my appetite back with a bang. Managed to put my weight back on quickly enough but I’ve went abit far with the weight gain so looking to eat better meals and cut out the snacking best I can. I was looking at making a tofu recipe but when I googled to see if it would have an impact on warfarin I kept getting different answers with soy and warfarin.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Also happy to hear your go to heart healthy recipes if you have any

 

[pellicle]

Good Morning (from Australian perspective)

I had my valve replaced back in November (7 months exactly) with a shiny new on-x value so I’ve been on warfarin since with the range of 2.0 to 3.0.

perfect, I love the good news

Been mostly doing well im about 90% back to normal just struggle with getting back to my normal fitness but I think this is more mental than physical at this point.

its always a struggle, so, keep in mind "slow and steady wins the race" and "listen to you body and only push gently"

Anyhow, I lost abit of weight last year due to being sick with endocarditis then lost some more with the surgery but boy I got my appetite back with a bang. Managed to put my weight back on quickly enough but I’ve went abit far with the weight gain

oops ;-)

so looking to eat better meals and cut out the snacking best I can. I was looking at making a tofu recipe but when I googled to see if it would have an impact on warfarin I kept getting different answers with soy and warfarin.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

I totally can't see any reason why it would ... I'm not living in Asia anymore (and can't say I like the Tofu here, having been spoiled by great TofoYaSan in Tokyo for some years) but according to WebMD there is the usual arse covering fluff of: "Soy might change how quickly the liver breaks down these medications"

I bolded the might to show the poor level of confidence they have in that. So here's my first question: do you self test? (you bloody should if the answer is no)

next will be "if you see a change in INR which you might attribute to something then follow the golden rule: dose the diet, don't diet the dose.

Also happy to hear your go to heart healthy recipes if you have any

All types of salads, especially Mediterranean, fish and aim for lower carbs

If you're managing your own INR and having any issues with range the please reach out.

Best Wishes

 

[GreenGiant91]

So here's my first question: do you self test? (you bloody should if the answer is no)

Yeah, I self test once a week but don’t self dose yet. In 7 months I’ve been out of range twice (both times 1.8), I ring my nurse who normally sees me that day and gives me a new dose. so far they just increased my dose by 1mg a week which seems to get me back on track. (5 days 3mg 2 days 4mg). I did notice if I go hard on anything avocado it tends to lower mine slightly but haven’t tested it properly to know for sure.

dose the diet, don't diet the dose.

This is what I strive towards, took me a few months to even eat more greens. I think once I get fully signed off to self test AND self dose my confidence will rise more. I just eat smaller portions of leafy greens now instead of avoiding.

 

[pellicle]

Hi

In 7 months I’ve been out of range twice (both times 1.8),

pretty good track record! I see little wrong with that. What's your Average INR?

I just eat smaller portions of leafy greens now instead of avoiding.

you may indeed find that just eating a reasonable (not huge, not token) salad once a day will not shift your INR by much, and indeed if you make it ever other day perhaps not at tall.

Sounds good, keep up the good work; make sure you keep a pill box too, to avoid those potential dose mistakes.

 

[Chuck C]

My wife cooks dishes with large amounts of tofu from time to time. I self test weekly and have never observed any movement in my INR, even after eating large amounts of tofu.

 

[GreenGiant91]

pretty good track record! I see little wrong with that. What's your Average INR?

My average is 2.3 according to my device I would probably want to be higher than that (2.5) but no biggie.

make sure you keep a pill box too

The first thing I bought post surgery was a pill box, makes its so much easier to manage everything plus on the iphone health app you can manage medications and set reminders too.

My wife cooks dishes with large amounts of tofu from time to time. I self test weekly and have never observed any movement in my INR, even after eating large amounts of tofu.

this is reassuring thanks Chuck. Ill give the tofu a try and keep an eye on the INR each week as normal.

 

[QuincyRunner]

Earlier this year I began shifting to a vegetarian diet with the full knowledge that it would play havoc with my warfarin dose routine but I was up for the challenge. I had been taking 7.5 mg/day for 13 years with very consistent INR readings in range about 90% of the time. Once the vitamin K onslaught began I started testing twice a week with predictable results: I struggled to keep my INR over 2.0 with an occasional drop to 1.8, all while slowly increasing my warfarin dose. Despite not meeting the academic rigor of say, Pellicle, my hit and miss version of the scientific method eventually guided me to a new stable dose of 7.5 mg 4X/week and 10 mg 3X/week, for a total of 60 mg/week versus 52.5 mg/week prior to going Vegan, a roughly 15% increase. I will tell the Green Giant that Soy products, including Soy milk, Soy beans, and Tofu, are high in protein and Vitamin K and make up a large part of my new diet plan as I have totally sworn off all animal protein. .I don't really have Tofu recipes to offer but I like it just stir fried in soy sauce and added to salads and other dishes. As a bonus tip, I would like to say that after stopping dairy products, mostly milk, icecream and cheese, my total cholesterol dropped from 230 to 150. I did this last year before going vegan only because my LP(a) was 209 and my Calcium score was134. We used to call people like me Health Food Nuts but I think I am happily becoming one now in an effort to control whatever I am able to control that might improve my life span and quality of life.

 

[GreenGiant91]

Earlier this year I began shifting to a vegetarian diet with the full knowledge that it would play havoc with my warfarin dose routine but I was up for the challenge. I had been taking 7.5 mg/day for 13 years with very consistent INR readings in range about 90% of the time. Once the vitamin K onslaught began I started testing twice a week with predictable results: I struggled to keep my INR over 2.0 with an occasional drop to 1.8, all while slowly increasing my warfarin dose. Despite not meeting the academic rigor of say, Pellicle, my hit and miss version of the scientific method eventually guided me to a new stable dose of 7.5 mg 4X/week and 10 mg 3X/week, for a total of 60 mg/week versus 52.5 mg/week prior to going Vegan, a roughly 15% increase. I will tell the Green Giant that Soy products, including Soy milk, Soy beans, and Tofu, are high in protein and Vitamin K and make up a large part of my new diet plan as I have totally sworn off all animal protein. .I don't really have Tofu recipes to offer but I like it just stir fried in soy sauce and added to salads and other dishes. As a bonus tip, I would like to say that after stopping dairy products, mostly milk, icecream and cheese, my total cholesterol dropped from 230 to 150. I did this last year before going vegan only because my LP(a) was 209 and my Calcium score was134. We used to call people like me Health Food Nuts but I think I am happily becoming one now in an effort to control whatever I am able to control that might improve my life span and quality of life.

Congrats on getting your cholesterol down with the new diet! I bet you feel better for it too.

My warfarin dose is small compared to some others, 3mg 5 days a week and 4mg 2 days a week. I feel like my INR might be easily swayed one way or the other when it comes to upping my dosage and eating more vitamin K. I’m slowly increasing what I eat in the hope I can see a change in my weight and cholesterol too.

 

[pellicle]

My warfarin dose is small compared to some others, 3mg 5 days a week and 4mg 2 days a week

while comparing doses, I can say I know someone who needs only 1.25mg a day

I know newbies think in some weird way a smaller dose is better, but its a PITA to manage such doses and I think its lucky for him that he's competent to do that.

I'm happy with my 6.5mg (mostly) dose. Average (for the geeks) has been 6.64 over this year #meaninglessStats.