"blake murphy" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 14:56:48 -0500, Goomba38 >
> wrote:
>
>>blake murphy wrote:
>>> my father was recently put on coumadin, for which i understand the
>>> generic is warfarin, a blood thinner or anti-coagulant (and yes, i
>>> know, a major ingredient in some rat poisons). there were some food
>>> restrictions (leafy green vegetables, etc.), due to large amounts of
>>> vitamin k, which apparently reduces the effect. those didn't bother
>>> him, but 'no onions' is chafing his knickers. (paradoxically, onions
>>> themselves seem to have an anticoagulant effect.)
>>>
>>> apparently, cooked onions are less bad, i presume because cooking
>>> destroys some of the viatmin k.
>>>
>>> anyhow, i told him i would put the question here to you all, since
>>> there seems to be much group experience in food allergies and medicine
>>> interactions, to see what you all thought, and ideas for
>>> substitutions, etc. so, any insights, wisdom, or warnings not to seek
>>> medical advice on the 'net? my dad's a pretty good cook, if that
>>> helps.
>>
>>Hmmm.. believe it not I've never heard of the "No Onions" warning. I
>>used to council patients all the time about the Vit K aspect. In fact,
>>Vit K isn't as much a problem as long as the intake is *consistent*
>>rather than 3 pounds of greens eaten one day and none the next and so
>>on... A stable intake is tolerable as the monitoring labs will remain
>>stable and the dose not altered based on faulty lab results.
>>I'll have to look into this "no onions" idea.....
>
> o.k., i hadn't thought of the 'stable intake' idea, but it makes
> sense.
>
> thanks.
>
> your pal,
> blake
>
I'd sure agree about the stable intake. Then with your prothrombin times you
can find the best dose
of coumadin to match your "green" intake.
I can't find anything to suggest that onions are particularly high in
vitamin K.

Kent

BTW, coumadin, as you but not many others know, is the generic name for the
drug.
Warfarin is the old brand name. Warfarin stans for "Wisconsin Alumni
Research Foundation", which held
original copyright for the drug, where largely, it was developed. I'm an old
UW alumnus.