Vit K and Non-American based foods???

[Aggie85]

Hi All, Has anyone seen listings or info. On Vit K in foods that aren't typical in American Diets. Like exotic fruits and veggies from diets other than US based? Indian, Asian, Middle Eastern foods.... I recently went on a trip to Mexico and was wondering about all the exotic and wonderful fruits I was eating. I looked them up individually and then discovered the site Nutrition-and-you.com. Wonderful site for info but not necessarily geared for just Coumadin users. .... Things I discovered through this site and others.... Dragon fruit and Papaya is OK. Starfruit is like Mangoes and Grapefruit and should be avoided. Capers are a spice (I thought they were like olives) and are HIGH HIGH in Vit. K. .... What other fruits or things that are in other cultural foods should we avoid? Consistency in diet is key, but when you don't consistently eat other cultural foods it'd be nice to know what to watch out for..... NewMitral, you mentioned a site that's helpful when I returned your INRatio machine. What was the site again? .... Thanks All, Linda

 

[newmitral]

Hi Aggie85,

The most accurate, and most extensive, database of nutritional information that I have found, including vitamin-K content for various foods is the U.S.D.A. National Nutrient Database.

The link for the top level entry to start a search is:
http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/

According to that database, your concern about capers is unwarranted. Vitamin K content of capers is moderate, and much less than that of kale or spinach. Plus, you are far more likely to eat 100g (0.22 lb) of spinach or kale than you are to eat 100g of capers in a meal.
capers = 24.6 ug per 100g
kale = 817.0 ug per 100g
spinach = 493.6 ug per 100g

I hope you (and other readers) find the database link helpful. I have found the USDA database more trustworthy than any other I have found online.

 

[marc_kowal]

I use the USDA database as well, especially when I'm having a food for a first time, just so I can gauge how much vitamin K it may have. I keep a link to it on my cell phone, it comes in real handy if you want to look something up while in a restaurant.

 

[Aggie85]

Thanks NewMitral! Actually, I was probably eating a fair amount (didn't weigh them) but guessing about half a cup of large capers in each salad each day. These were not your typical salad bar capers. The chef was using the capers to bulk up what he called a Mediterranean Salad since he misunderstood about my not having any greens. (There was a language barrier when I tried to say I could have some K foods but had to watch it, he took as none and I couldn't get him to understand that he'd misunderstood. So I just added the greens in at dinner and called it even.) These were the biggest capers I'd ever seen, about the size of my thumbnail and the salad was mostly capers, grape tomatoes and cheese. ..... My point here was mainly just curious about what folks from other countries watch for when on Coumadin and to get your USDA website brought up to forefront and remind me what it was. ..... I have a Vit K app I downloaded on my phone for quick references but it doesn't have things like capers, dragonfruit, star fruit, etc.. It's really typical American diet based. My other complaint with the app is that it doesn't warn about non-K issues like the grapefruit and mango. If someone was only going by the K they'd think grapefruit was alright. Does the USDA sight include medical warnings like the grapefruit? The Nutrition-and-you.com site does. I'm not sure where they get their info but I suspect the USDA since their numbers for K in capers was the same as yours. They'd also included that amount was 20% of the USDA daily amount for K which I took as meaning fairly high in K compared to other foods. I was eating lots and more the point unwittingly adding a food with K in it that I didn't know I was...... Thanks again for passing on the USDA site. I'm going to go peruse it now. (back to old fashioned smiles since emoticons aren't working yet.)

 

[Aggie85]

Just checked USDA site out. Very nice, but does not include medical warnings like for grapefruit. Good otherwise.