Broccoli

For years, I've been downing large quantities of broccoli in the hope of warding off cancer. (It's a cruciferous vegetable, the supposed holy grail of antioxidants and cancer protection.) Now as part of my therapy I've learned that broccoli is relatively high in vitamin K, the agent that promotes clotting in the blood. So, I have been advised to "restrict my intake" of broccoli to 1/2 cup per day. I put it in quotes because it just seems so funny to me! Left to my own instincts, without the influence of media health reporting, I doubt I would have developed the broccoli habit in the first place.

Other vegetables like lettuces, garbanzos and asparagus have significant vitamin K, too -- but the advice for these is not to restrict them, just to be sure that to eat more or less the same amount each day, so that the warfarin dosage can be calibrated to counteract my normal vitamin K level. So ... despite the broccoli advice, being on anticoagulants is not an excuse to embark on a carbs and carne lifestyle. (There are a few really high K foods, like kale and parsley, that I'm supposed to avoid altogether. I'm not sure I've ever eaten kale anyway ... and does anyone actually eat parsley?)

All this vitamin K/vegetable stuff makes me wonder if I inadvertently increased my risk for the clot while recovering from my bike accident. I was trying to eat healthier (2006 resolution), so I ate a lot more vegetables, cut out some meat and other stuff, and cut out the glass or two of red wine I often have with dinner. Since the wine is known to have some blood thinning effects, and the vegetables I now know have the converse, could this have contributed to the DVT? (I also realize now that I drank MUCH less water during that time, because I was concentrating so hard on "resting" my leg, which is so contrary to my normal behavior. )

I'm going to keep an eye on research related to this. Could be useful information for other people who are recovering from minor injuries at home. Would it be a good idea, for example, to cut down on vitamin K before air travel? Should athletes minimize it before major endurance events? Interesting questions.

I've also learned that vitamin K is an important element that is crucial to other areas of health, such as bone health. It seems to me that this is just another example of how important balance is to attaining good health; too much of any "good thing" can cause it to be harmful, and if you're then forced to reduce it or cut it out, that can lead to other problems. I definitely don't want to exchange DVT for osteoporosis if I can avoid it (especially since I'm now unlikely to be a candidate for hormone replacement therapy when that time comes).

Some useful links on vitamin K:

Mayo Clinic article on warfarin and vitamin K
Dr. Gourmet Vitamin K chart
Dr. Andrew Weil on Vitamin K and Coumadin
Vitamin K Content of Some Foods from medic8.com

Also worth noting that there are some contradictions in published information about vitamin K content in foods. For example, some sources list olive oil as a high K food, while others list it as low. Many sources comment on the relative lack of data on vitamin K to date (in comparison to other vitamins with a better understood connection to health, like vitamin C, A, E, etc). All of this suggests to me that my doctor's advice to keep your diet as consistent as possible is the most useful. (And, of course, to ask if in doubt about any particular food.)