Vitamin K how much?

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Robbyn

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Messages
92
Location
Ontario, Canada
I was wondering of someone has the address of a good site with information on the Vitamin K content (ie numbers) in foods. Honestly they seem to be all over the place. Also it says that a woman should have around 65 (sorry can't remember the measure) of Vitamin K daliy. Does that apply to someone that has a mitral valve or one without?

Thanks,
Robbyn
 
I know it gets confusing. We can't avoid all Vitamin K. The thing is that we need to be consistant in our food consumption so that the amount of Vit. K we're taking in stays consistant. The problem arises when we, let's say, eat lots of spinach, our Coumadin is adjusted, and then we stop eating spinach. Our INR will jump up and could possibly go way to high.

Changing eating habits is very hard if not virtually impossible for some. There are people here who love salads and have them 3 times a week. The problem for them would arise if they stopped this routine and never ate salads.
 
Works well for me just eating a low K diet. I do not totally avoid green veggies, etc. Just eat a very small serving. Would consider my diet balanced . I cook for my family. Otherwise, pretty certain some of the 'good stuff' (dark greens) would not make it into my shopping cart ;)
 
60-65mcg per day is the recommended daily allowance for a woman, but I know very few people that consume that small of an amount.

Here is a bunch of links to the content of foods with vit k

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=vitamin+K+in+foods

The key is to always (or at least try to be) consistent in the amounts you eat everyday. Eat the foods you like and adjust the Coumadin around that diet. It seldom works at all the other way around. If your getting venous INR checks, I certainly wouldn't recommend trying maintain a therapeutic range any other way. :eek:
 
Robbyn,

I base my coumadin dosage on a diet very high in leafy green vegetables. They are so heart healthy and I really love them. I would rather have the concern about my INR rising if I should skip them for a day or two than dropping if I ate them "heartily" for a few days strait. This works for me but you will develop a system that suits you and your lifestyle. Try not to stress over it too much though. You can drive yourself crazy trying to get it "just right".
 
Thanks

Thanks

Thanks for the information. It just I saw a couple of sites with things like Mayo and Tomatoes high in Vit K. But I only saw this on one sight. I am trying not stress about this but I need to get a handle on my INR. The dr. is not going to do it do so I have to. I have never been theuraputic since I've had surgery. They want me 3.0 - 3.5 the highest I usually go is 2.6.

I just got out to the hospital with a lung hemmorage. NOT fun! Almost bled to death. And I feel that I need to do everything "right" and by the book.

I really love salads too. So you really don't really need to eat one everday. If you did 3x a week is that consistent enough.

Thanks again,
Robbyn
 
Robbyn:

I'm like Betty -- my Coumadin dosage is based on eating lots of vitamin K. Right after surgery, I was pretty scared about consuming much vitamin K. Then I realized that I needed it -- and was missing some things, like guacamole, asparagus, broccoli-rice casserole, etc.

What I've read about vitamin K is that about half of it is produced by bacterial in your intestinal tract. If you have good healthy flora there, you're already getting lots of vitamin K. If you have diarrhea, you're in trouble and may have a high INR. That's why diarrhea is listed as one of the potential causes of a high INR.
I have at least one, sometimes 2 containers of nonfat yogurt a day. :)

Info from Coumadin's mfr lists tomatoes as LOW in vitamin K, not high.
I eat at least one, usually 2 salads a day. If the salad is mostly iceberg, you don't get as much vitamin K as if it were a spinach or other dark leafy green lettuce. I try to mix a few baby spinach leaves in with my salad greens.

Ask your PCP or whoever monitors your INR levels for some brochures from Bristol Squibb-Myers about foods and Coumadin. I carry one in my purse to use when grocery-shopping. Showed it to a friend who recently got a St. Jude valve -- he and his wife didn't know that oils contain vitamin K.
 
I don't even pay attention to the whole Vit K thing anymore. I just eat what I like and the heck with it. I've got my Coumadin adjusted for the way I eat. I guess what I'm saying is, don't let people have you obsessing over it. It won't work like that anyway.

If your at 2.6 consistently, they should up your dosage by 10 to 15% spread out over the week and recheck you in one week. A target range of 3.0 to 3.5 is really a difficult window to maintain, in fact, nearly impossible.
 
Consistency in diet is the key.

I looked over several lists of the Vitamin K content of food several years ago, and noted the items with large amounts of Vitamin K, generally over 100 units. When I eat one of those, or contemplate eating it, I think about the Vitamin K content. Mostly, I just avoid those. But then again, most of them I wasn't too fond of anyway. In the spring, when the asparagus is fresh from my garden, I eat it and love it and take an extra milligram or two of coumadin.
 
If you had a lung hemorrhage, you should probably be closer to 2.5 than 3.5. You biggest fear should be that your INR is too high and the hemorrhage re-starts. The longer time that passes, the less likely it is to recur.
 
I believe your right

I believe your right

Al,

I think you are right about that. I will BE talking to my surgeon because he wanted at 3.0 - 3.5 and as someone mentioned before, that's a quite small window.

I was doing okay before, it stayed around 2.6. And I ate a salad everyday. I have acquired something called microscopic polyangitis, which caused the lung to bleed. Now I am afraid to do ANYTHING!!!

Thanks for your help.
 
Robbyn,

I just noticed your address. You have the largest collection of experts on warfarin in the world in Hamilton, Ontario. If you are anywhere near them and can get a referral you would be well off. Some of the doctors are Jack Hirsh, Jeff Ginsburg, Mark Crowther - most are affiliated some way with McMaster University.
 
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