Spinach/Vitamin K.

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Assisted Living, Med-Surg/CVA specialty.

I know Vitamin K is the antidote for Coumadin and spinach is a notorious veggie with Vit K in it... So if you eat a lot of spinach, could you get a blood clot from it?

These are the things I think about when I'm eating dinner :). I ate a whole can of spinach and now I'm wondering about the clot issue, especially since I'm on BCP. (Not that I'm concerned I'll get a clot, but just one of those "What if" things) It's probably a stupid question, tho lol. :)

(You can get renal calculi from a spinach overdose, too, right?)

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

If you're worried about getting a clot from eating spinach & being on BCPs then a call to your doc might set your mind at ease. If you're just wondering, you know.

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Specializes in Assisted Living, Med-Surg/CVA specialty.

Oh, I'm not worried about getting a clot, but I'm just curious... Like if someone overdoses on spinach would they get a clot?

Sorry,I've been working night shift with minimal sleep, so I'm probably delirious. :bugeyes:

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Specializes in Nursing assistant.

Is it oxalate stones that you are thinking of with spinach? I can't remember. I don't think that's an issue unless that's an issue...

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Specializes in CMSRN.

Unless I am wrong. It is not that spinach can cause clots. It is the vit K in it that counteracts the coumadin which then places the person to be out of therapeutic range. I am not sure how much Vit K is needed to render to coumadin useless though.

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Specializes in critical care; community health; psych.

I don't think we're worried about dietary Vitamin K. Isn't protamine the antidote for coumadin?

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Specializes in Nursing Home ,Dementia Care,Neurology..

Spinach.....well it never did Popeye any harm!:chair::sofahider

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Isn't protamine the antidote for coumadin?

protamine is the antidote for heparin.

coumadin - vit k.

leslie

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I am a Nutrition Specialist. Here is research-based information that is accurate on Spinach/Vitamin K.

The main dietary concern related to taking warfarin has to do with the amount of vitamin K in your diet. Vitamin K plays an important role in blood clotting. Warfarin works to reduce clotting by diminishing the activity of vitamin K. Eating large amounts of vitamin K can counteract the benefits of warfarin. The goal is to keep your Vitamin K intake as consistent as possible.

Sudden increase of Vitamin K could decrease the effect of Coumadin. On the other hand, greatly lowering your Vitamin K could increase the effect of Coumadin.

  • Limit foods "high" in Vitam in Vitamin K to no more than 1 serving a day.
  • Limit foods "moderately high" in Vitamin K to no more than 3 servings a day.

Spinach, fresh, boiled is considered high--eat no more than 1/2 a cup a day (1 serving= 1/2 cupr for cooked spinach).

Raw spinach is considered moderately high--eat no more than 3 cups a day (3 servings)--serving size is 1 cup.

Other foods to watch out for (no more than 1/2 a cup a day) that are "high" in Vitamin K include kale, fresh, boiled; turnip greens, frozen boiled; collards, fresh, boiled; swiss chard, fresh, boiled; Parsley, raw; mustard greens, fresh, boiled.

When eaten raw, you can eat up to 3 cups a day of the above vegetables.

Also, limit/avoid alcoholic beverages if possible.

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I am a Nutrition Specialist. Here is research-based information that is accurate on Spinach/Vitamin K.

The main dietary concern related to taking warfarin has to do with the amount of vitamin K in your diet. Vitamin K plays an important role in blood clotting. Warfarin works to reduce clotting by diminishing the activity of vitamin K. Eating large amounts of vitamin K can counteract the benefits of warfarin. The goal is to keep your Vitamin K intake as consistent as possible.

Sudden increase of Vitamin K could decrease the effect of Coumadin. On the other hand, greatly lowering your Vitamin K could increase the effect of Coumadin.

  • Limit foods "high" in Vitam in Vitamin K to no more than 1 serving a day.
  • Limit foods "moderately high" in Vitamin K to no more than 3 servings a day.

Spinach, fresh, boiled is considered high--eat no more than 1/2 a cup a day (1 serving= 1/2 cupr for cooked spinach).

Raw spinach is considered moderately high--eat no more than 3 cups a day (3 servings)--serving size is 1 cup.

Other foods to watch out for (no more than 1/2 a cup a day) that are "high" in Vitamin K include kale, fresh, boiled; turnip greens, frozen boiled; collards, fresh, boiled; swiss chard, fresh, boiled; Parsley, raw; mustard greens, fresh, boiled.

When eaten raw, you can eat up to 3 cups a day of the above vegetables.

Also, limit/avoid alcoholic beverages if possible.

For your information--if you are not on any anti-clotting medication, I would not worry about Vitamin K.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

I had to really think about this one...lol. Anyways after looking online and in Goodman & Gillman's (see below) it looks like that the excess Vit K would just be excreted in the bile and feces. Vitamin K is a cofactor in the clotting cascade, but it doesn't appear that it would induce more clotting when given in excess (except in the case of reverasal of coumadin). The one website I read said there was no reported toxic cases of overdoses with vitamin K. http://www.vitamins-supplements.org/vitamin-K.php

"The Role of Vitamin K

Vitamin K is essential in both mammals and in photosynthetic organisms. In certain photosynthetic bacteria, vitamin K is a cofactor in the photosynthetic electron-transport system; in green plants, vitamin K1 is a component of photosystem I, the membrane-bound macromolecular light-sensitive complex. Green plants are a nutritional source of vitamin K for humans, in whom vitamin K is an essential cofactor in the -carboxylation of multiple glutamate (Glu) residues of several clotting factors and anticoagulant proteins. The vitamin K–dependent formation of -carboxy-glutamate (Gla) residues permits the appropriate interactions of clotting factors, Ca2+, and membrane phospholipids and modulator proteins (Figure 54–2). Oral anticoagulant drugs (coumadin derivatives, Figure 54–5) block Gla formation and thereby inhibit clotting; excess vitamin K1 can reverse the effects of these oral anticoagulants."

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I just had this question!!! So glad to find it was already asked. I just started adding raw fruit and veggie juice about three times a day to my diet. One of my main ingredients is spinach and other big Vit K contributors. I was running on the treadmill last night when all of a sudden I got a small but very painful blood clot in my finger tip. I too am on birth control and then started to freak out, took an aspirin and today I am eating lots of fish. I am not too worried about it as today the blood clot looks more like bruise and is not red, hot, swollen, and painful like it was. I am not sure if its the birth control or my new diet or the combination of the two I need to change. I just graduated from nursing school and have not started working yet so I do not have insurance so I am trying to deal with this on my own for now. If something else happens though I will surely go get a medical opinion on the matter.

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