Most food, herbs, and supplements are safe if taken in moderation; however, patients on warfarin must be careful of the higher risk of bleeding when taking these herbal and food supplements, according to a recent study.
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| Photo: Herb Supplements | InStyleHealth |
Particularly, patients should be mindful of the effects
of the following: Chinese wolfberry, chamomile tea, cannabis, cranberry,
chitosan, green tea, Gingko biloba, ginger, spinach, St. John’s Wort, sushi,
and tobacco smoking.
What is warfarin?
Warfarin is
commonly called a "blood thinner," but the more correct term is
"anticoagulant." It helps to keep blood flowing smoothly in your body
by decreasing the amount of certain substances (clotting proteins) in your
blood. It is sold under the brand name Coumadin among others.
Warfarin is used to treat people who have had a
previous blood clot, such as a blood clot in the leg (deep vein thrombosis, or
DVT) a blood clot in the lungs (pulmonary embolism).
The experts showed an updated overview on the safety
of the concurrent use of food, herbal, or dietary supplement and warfarin. Experts
performed a systemic review on five databases from inception up to 31st
December 2019 and classified such use depending on the possibility of interaction
and supporting evidences.
There was a total of 149 articles identified,
reporting 78 herbs, food, or dietary supplements that had interactions with warfarin.
Furthermore, 20 unique herbs and dietary supplements
were found by experts to be correlated with minor bleeding events, including purpura
and gum bleeding, as well as major events such as intracranial bleeding that
could lead to death.
Experts suggest that, “Patients should be counselled
to continue to seek advice from their healthcare professionals when starting
any new herbs, food, or supplement.”