Vit. K in Tomatoes?

JimChicago · Aug 30, 2003

My INR was a little low last time (2.4) - I was wondering about tomatoes as I had started eating half a tomatoe with lunch and dinner -
I looked at one reference and it said fresh tomatoes have 2 micrograms vit. K per ounce, green tomatoes 5. I'm eating the fresh ones but that would be 10 ounces of tomatoes per day would equal 20 micrograms of vit. K?
Seems like enuff to change the INR?
I hadn't heard tomatoes mentioned as a food to avoid - just wondered what others thought about this.

JimL · Aug 30, 2003

Jim, your post caught my attention, since I just cut up four fresh tomatoes for my supper, along with two green peppers and a summer squash -- everything is ripe at once.

I have two lists. One says:

Tomato, red, raw, 1 tomato, 3

The other has:

Tomatoes, ripe, raw 6

What a difference an es makes!

With those numbers, I think a person can safely eat all the tomatoes they want without any effect on the INR.

Bon appetit!

Ross · Aug 30, 2003

I'm a Tomato junkie and my INR is always high, so I don't think it has too much of an affect on your INR. Just my two pennies.

Missy · Aug 30, 2003

I went through this same thing a couple of years ago. My doctors office made me list everything I had been eating and asked me about fresh produce in my area and when I said tomatoes and green chili peppers they knew those were the culprits.
She said it wasn't just the amount of vitamin k in them. It is the vitamin C. Those are not the only vitamin C foodsthat you have to watch. Sometimes when one's inr is down it is
not the vitamin K but another vitamin.
Vitamin C decreases the coumadin effect.

Ross · Aug 31, 2003

Thought this was interesting: Vitamin C in large doses.

There is some evidence, though controversial , that vitamin C interacts with anticoagulant medications (blood thinners) such as warfarin (Coumadin). Large doses of vitamin C may block the action of warfarin, requiring an increase in dose to maintain its effectiveness. Individuals on anticoagulants should limit their vitamin C intake to 1 gram/day and have their prothrombin time monitored by the clinician following their anticoagulant therapy. Because high doses of vitamin C have also been found to interfere with the interpretation of certain laboratory tests (e.g., serum bilirubin, serum creatinine, and the guaiac assay for occult blood) it is important to inform one's health care provider of any recent supplement use (38).

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminC/c.html

JimChicago · Aug 31, 2003

Thank you all for your answers.

I found another chart that says not that much vit. k in tomatoes but implies there's quite a bit in carrots at:
http://photon.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Other/IFT2002_VitK.pdf

JimL · Aug 31, 2003

Jim Chicago, Thanks for the chart. I printed it out, and I'll add it to the other two I have. Now, if I can just find a magnifying glass, I'll be able to read it....