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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 333
Master Member
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With all the vitamins recommended, garlic, flax oil, and vitamin E all thin the blood. Is there not a risk of thinning the blood too much? I remember having my blood drawn at the lab when I was just on garlic and the phlebotomist was astonished at how long it took for my blood to clot.
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Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 396
Advanced Master Member
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It's interesting that you bring this up. You hear all the time that you shouldn't take vitamin E or other natural "blood thinners" especially if you take anti-coagulants like Coumadin. Well, scientists put an end to all this "theorizing" back in 1996, but I bet there are a lot of doctors that don't know this. Historically, experts theorized that vitamin E would increase the effects of warfarin (Coumadin) by causing a deficiency of vitamin K?a fat-soluble vitamin responsible for blood clotting. However, in a recent double-blind clinical trial of 21 patients on chronic warfarin therapy, no significant effect on prothrombin times (a test that measures the clotting time of blood) was observed when 800-1200mg of vitamin E per day was given. Researchers concluded that "it appears that vitamin E can safely be given to patients who require chronic warfarin therapy.? American Journal of Cardiology; 1996, 77(7):545-546. This information is excerpted from the manual I wrote called the HART NSP Master Reference. It's important to note that the researchers made sure that the study participants were taking more than the typical daily dose, which is usually 400-800mg, AND they were on a prescription blood-thinner. No contraindication...no interactions. Hopefully, this will help everyone to understand that sometimes the information you hear (especially from doctors) is not always accurate. You really shouldn't have any problems taking garlic, flax seed and vitamin E. However, if you're someone whose blood does take a long time to clot, you probably need to make sure you get more vitamin K in your diet. An easy way to do this is to take Alfalfa, which is a good source of vitamin K.
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 333
Master Member
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Thanks, Laura, In fact, a few years ago, before I knew anything about mercury in fillings or was taking vit. E, etc. I gave a blood donation for platelets. They later phoned me to inform me that I had a somewhat low platelet count (not too low to donate), but the platelets I had were clumped together. So, if these vitamins do not thin the blood too much, it is probably a good thing to be taking them, for more reasons than one.
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Why's it so important to take vitamin E?
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