Study: Vegetables can block the effects of anticoagulant drugs, here’s the explanation

Green leafy vegetables, such as kale and spinach, are known for their high nutritional content, including fiber, vitamins and antioxidants. However, this vegetable can affect the activity of some medicines. How come?

Professor of nutrition and nutrition at Boston University, Joan Salge Blake, explained that green leafy vegetables can block the effects of drugs, especially warfarin, which work to prevent excessive bleeding.

“This is caused by the high level of vitamin K in green leafy vegetables,” he said, as quoted Living science.

Vegetables high in vitamin K

Blake said some green leafy vegetables have a high vitamin K content. Examples include kale, spinach, mustard greens, Swiss chard, cabbage, endive, broccoli and Brussels sprouts, which are estimated to contain over 100 micrograms of vitamin K per serving.

Vitamin K is very important to the body because it helps with blood clotting. This is useful when the body receives an injury that causes bleeding. In this case, vitamin K helps to prevent a person from losing too much blood.

“Without vitamin K, a small cut on your finger will cause uncontrollable bleeding,” says Blake.

However, these can cause blood clots in some cases. For example, when a person is not injured, and a blood clot appears in an artery or vein, it can block blood flow to the heart, brain, lungs and other organs.

This condition can cause heart attacks, strokes and pulmonary embolism.

Effect of vitamin K on blood thinning drugs

To overcome the risk of blood clots in people with certain medical conditions, a blood thinning drug (anticoagulant) called warfarin is needed. However, what is indicated is that warfarin works by blocking the enzyme that activates vitamin K.

With less access to active vitamin K, fewer clotting factors are released and the formation of blood clots is slower.

In this case, when someone eats green leafy vegetables and warfarin at the same time, there will be an increase in the amount of vitamin K that reduces the effects of warfarin. This can cause the blood to clot very quickly.

However, Blake explained that this effect only occurs if more green vegetables are eaten. Therefore, it is important to keep the level of vitamin K constant to avoid changes that affect the performance of warfarin.

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