A concerned reader has asked, "Why people who have undergone heart surgery are advised to avoid leafy vegetables, cauliflower, chickpeas, cabbage , etc.?
Cardiologist Arun Kalyanasundaram, based in Chennai, has guided us about greens and blood thinners.
Leafy vegetables, cauliflower, chickpeas and cabbage can be eaten by heart patients liberally. Since these are healthy foods, there is no problem in consuming them.
If your doctor has advised you to avoid them, there are a few things you need to pay attention to. Only those who are taking coumadin and warfarin blood thinners should take certain vegetables and greens as prescribed by the doctor.
That is, those who take these particular blood thinners will be advised to take the same amount of these vegetables and greens. The foods you mentioned here contain vitamin K. Vitamin K may react with certain blood thinners and cause side effects.
It can cause some problems when consumed beyond the prescribed dose. If you take a little extra greens or vegetables for a few days, then it is necessary to do a PT/INR test.
Otherwise, heart patients do not have any problem eating the above mentioned vegetables and greens. If you have been prescribed a blood thinner and your doctor has advised you to restrict your diet, you should avoid certain vegetables and greens, not all heart patients need to be afraid of this.
Doctor Profile
Dr. Arun Kalyanasundaram is an eminent Interventional Cardiologist, associated with many leading hospitals globally. He is the Chief, Division of Cardiology, Promed Hospital, Chennai and a global proctor (internationally authorized to teach complex cardiac interventional procedures to other medical practitioners) for Chronic Total Occlusions(CTO) at Boston Scientific, Abbott Vascular, USA, Medtronic China, Spectranetics, Asahi Intec, USA. He is also a Director at Fortis Escorts Hospital, New Delhi, India’s top cardiac center.
