Natural Blood Thinners

There are a number of foods and supplements that are known to thin the blood. These include foods with high amounts of aspirin-like substances called salicylates, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E supplements, and foods with natural antibiotic properties.

Strawberries contain a very high amount of naturally occurring salicylates.

Salicylates

One type of natural blood thinners are substances that block vitamin K known as salicylates. The most well known of these is aspirin, but many foods, such as preservatives and flavorings, also contain salicylates or aspirin-like substances. Some individuals are known to be aspirin or salicylate sensitive. I'm one of those salicylate sensitive types, but I have found that I can eat more salicylates as long as I eat a balanced amount of vitamin K foods. (Vitamin K plays an important role in the body's in blood clotting processes. The "K" in vitamin K gets its name from the Danish word for coagulation.)

Foods that are higher in salicylates include many spices, most fruits, especially dried fruits, nuts, and also some flavorings and preservatives.

Ginger is known as a warming spice in both Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Herbs and spices high in salicylates include:

Curry powder
Cayenne pepper
Ginger
Paprika
Thyme
Cinnamon
Dill
Oregano
Turmeric
Licorice
Peppermint

In Ayurvedic (traditional Indian medicine) many of the above spices are known as "warming spices". I think this is because by thinning the blood they increase a person's blood circulation, which in turn speeds up the metabolism and makes a person feel warmer.

My family was really cold one late evening at Disneyland, but as soon as we ate some churros we all warmed up. We did not know why at the time, but later realized it was because the churros were dipped in sugar with cinnamon, a spice high in blood thinning compounds and one of the key warming spices discussed frequently in Ayurvedic medicine.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an antagonist to vitamin K. Some foods and topical substances these days are preserved with vitamin E, so it pays to read labels carefully. One of my sons, who otherwise has not had any unusual bleeding problems or easy bruising, developed a severe nose bleed from a hand sanitizer that had vitamin E used as a preservative. He woke up in the middle of the night one night with clots coming out of his nose, so I tried to think of what we had done differently that day as a possible cause. Then I remembered I had bought both kids a new hand sanitizing lotion at the local pharmacy, I checked the ingredients on the bottle and vitamin E was listed. So I gave him a lettuce salad to eat, which stopped the bleeding, and threw out the sanitizer. He has not had another nose bleed since that that day over ten years ago.

Foods high in vitamin E may not necessarily thin the blood, as many foods high in vitamin E, such as spinach and broccoli also contain significant amounts of vitamin K, which tends to clot the blood.

I was prescribed vitamin E supplements at one time by a doctor for fibrocystic breasts. Afterwards, I developed an increased number of bleeding and bruising problems, including menorrhagia. I did some research on my own and realized vitamin E could thin the blood. Most medical articles state that people have to take relatively large doses of vitamin E in order for it to have an effect on coagulation. However, I don't think that is true for everyone. For people like me who are easy bleeders, even small amounts of vitamin E can cause bleeding issues.

Vitamin B6?

This is just an anecdotal report based on my own experience, but I took a vitamin B6 supplement at one time and developed a really bad nose bleed shortly afterwards. The nose bleed stopped when I had a vitamin K rich salad, so I do think that the bleeding was from a lack of vitamin K and not other causes, such as trauma or high blood pressure. The vitamin B6 tablet was the only change I made in my usual diet and routine that day.

Interestingly, one of my health books noted that vitamin B6 lowers estrogen levels, and it is well established through medical studies that increased estrogen levels are linked to blood clots. As such, if vitamin B6 does lower estrogen levels, then it may make sense that it may also lower vitamin K levels and thin the blood. However, I have never found any studies noting this particular association, so at this time the link between vitamin B6 and thinner blood is just a hypothesis in my part based on information from my health books, my own experience and logical deduction.

Omega- 3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids have received a lot of press lately because of their ability to lower cholesterol levels and make the blood less prone to clotting. Fish oil is usually high in omega-3s and can be ingested either through purchasing capsules or by eating fatty fish. Fish with high amounts of omega-3s include:

Anchovies
Salmon
Albacore tuna
Mackerel
Lake Trout
Herring

A number of studies in recent years have found omega-3 fatty acids beneficial for anxiety and depression. When eating fish, one danger is that many fish have high mercury levels, so experts often have mixed recommendations on exactly just how healthy eating a lot of seafood is for most people.

The chart in this link to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency web site contains a table of mercury levels in commercial fish and shellfish. Fish may be a great food for people who are at risk for blood clots, but for easy bleeders like me it is a food I need to limit, regardless of mercury levels.

Additional Selected Foods With Compounds That Thin the Blood

Tree Ear
Jicama
Garlic
Onions
Olive Oil

Garlic and onions contain natural antibiotics that can kill the intestinal bacteria that manufacture vitamin K. Many studies have found that long term prescription antibiotic use can cause bleeding problems due to a vitamin K deficiency. However, for people like me who seem to always be short on vitamin K, even small amounts of foods with natural antibiotics properties, like garlic and onions, are problematic. I often avoid eating at Italian restaurants because of their liberal use of garlic. When I do eat Italian food, I also try to have have a salad with lots of leafy green vegetables high in vitamin K as a part of my meal.

James A. Duke, author of several books on herbal medicine, notes that garlic has nine different compounds that are antiaggregants (compounds that prevent the blood platelets from sticking together).

Alcohol

A study that appeared in the October, 2005 issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research found that "Alcohol consumption is inversely associated with both platelet activation and aggregation." Another study, published in 1986 in the same journal, found signs of subclinical vitamin K deficiency in a study of 20 male alcoholics. Perhaps not coincidentally, the signs of fetal alcohol syndrome closely resemble the symptoms of vitamin K deficiency in newborns.

Based on my personal experience, I've noticed that red wine is an especially potent as a blood thinner. I had two glasses of red wine at a party a few years ago and started to have bleeding problems soon afterwards, including pain in one of my ovaries, which went away when I got home and ate some vitamin K rich foods.

Iron

There seems to be a yin-yang relationship between iron levels and blood coagulation. The following list includes a sampling of studies and articles that indicate when iron levels are high, platelet count is low and vice versa.

When people have iron deficiency anemia, their platelet counts usually increase.
Pubmed has a case study of a patient who overdosed on iron supplements. Following the overdose, "Vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors dropped within the next hours to very low levels. Thrombotest showed less than 3% of normal coagulation activity 8 h [sic] after oral intake."
A study published in Renal and Urology News noted that "iron lowers platelet counts."

On a personal note, I developed iron deficiency anemia after going on a diet and eating a lot of vitamin K rich, coagulation inducing salads. My iron levels may well have been low before I went on the diet as anemia usually doesn't usually develop just overnight, but I think it was more than a coincidence that I only became symptomatic during my high vitamin K intake / salad phase. When I had my blood tested, during the times I was anemic my platelet count was out of range on the high side. My platelet count returned to normal levels again after I started taking iron pills and my iron deficiency anemia was corrected.

Exercise

Based on studies of female athletes, vigorous exercise seems to lower vitamin K levels. Women who are elite athletes, i.e. those who over exercise, instead of being healthy actually are at risk for hypoestrogenism, osteoporosis and vitamin K deficiency. Vitamin K is necessary to clot the blood, so by logical deduction then it may be prudent to consider the possibility that over exercising may thin the blood since it is known to lower levels of vitamin K.

At the other end of the spectrum, we know that people who remain stationary for long periods, such as people on bed rest, in car trips or travelers on long plane flights, are at risk for blood clots. One of my relatives developed a blood clot in his leg on a flight from Europe to the U.S. and had to have emergency surgery shortly after landing in the U.S.

By logical deduction then, the table below may illustrate the links between the conditions associated with remaining stationary and the conditions with over exercising, two conditions at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Remaining Stationary	<=>	Vigorous Exercising

Blood Clots	<=>	Vitamin K deficiency Thinner blood

Higher estrogen levels	<=>	Low estrogen levels

Increased cancer risk	<=>	Decreased cancer risk

Table showing known links between exercise, estrogen levels, vitamin K, cancer and blood clotting.

Interestingly, a 2003 study from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center found that blood clots in obese people could be dissolved with regular exercise.

Vitamin D is known as the sunshine vitamin because our bodies can produce it from the action of sunlight on the skin.

Sunshine / Vitamin D?

In Ayurvedic medicine, sunshine is supposed to be good for a person's circulation, which I've found usually means it also thins the blood. As noted above, other Ayurvedic remedies for improving circulation, such as cinnamon and ginger, have actually been proven in modern medical studies to be natural blood thinners. As such, it would be logical to consider the possibility that if Ayurvedic medicine scholars were correct about the spices thinning the blood, they may have been right about sunshine, too.

Interestingly, a recent medical study found that a "clinical trial of a biologically active metabolite of Vitamin D3 demonstrated an unanticipated reduction of thrombosis in cancer patients." Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin that we can obtain in two ways: 1) through food; or 2) it can be synthesized by the body after exposure to sunshine.

I don't know if this means that sunshine would have the same impact on blood as the vitamin D from the study, but it is interesting food for thought. If sunshine is found to be a blood thinner, it would confirm what Ayurvedic practitioners have thought to be true for thousands of years.

Cancer and Blood Clots

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) cancer is often viewed as a symptom of a circulation problem. In modern, Western medicine, the common assumption is that cancer causes blood clots. But what if the TCM version is really the most accurate view, and the reality was that blood clots, or a lack of circulation from blood clots, caused cancer? Perhaps not coincidentally, many factors that studies show may decrease the risk of cancer also thin the blood. These include sunshine, exercise, aspirin, heparin (a prescription anticoagulant), antibiotics, olive oil, fish oil, turmeric, vitamin E and garlic. For more on this topic, see my article on breast cancer, blood clots and excess vitamin K levels.

Avoiding Foods that Clot the Blood

Foods that clot the blood include those high in vitamin K, especially leafy green vegetables, saturated fats, and cultured foods with live bacteria that synthesize vitamin K in the intestinal tract. For more on this topic see my section: Foods and Environmental Factors That Cause the Blood to Clot

Summary

It is well known that foods that elevate vitamin K levels, such as lettuce and dandelion greens, may clot the blood. People who are taking anticoagulants are often warned to limit these types of foods so they don't counteract the effectiveness of their medicine.

However, it is often overlooked that many foods and environmental factors, especially those that lower vitamin K levels, may thin the blood. This information may be important for people on anticoagulants to be aware of in order to prevent their blood from becoming too thin.

Some people, like me, have genetic disorders that make us easy bleeders. However I have found that by controlling my diet by monitoring how much of the foods listed above I consume, I can usually keep my bleeding problems well under control.