2024-04-15 07:21:27
But the most worrying thing is that DVT can become the cause of serious illness, disability or even death.
What’s more, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a sharp increase in the number of patients admitted to the hospital due to blood clots.
“Around 2020 in June and July, we began to see more and more patients coming to the office with blood clots in their legs or lungs,” said Dr. Chadi Alraies. The doctor added that due to the COVID-19 virus, some patients’ bodies began to produce antibodies that could cause inflammation and blood clots.
But there is good news. DVT is treatable and, most importantly, preventable. Dietary changes help reduce the risk of this disease.
“Some foods increase the risk of blood clots,” stated The 30-Day Heart Tune-up (English Heart Improvement in 30 Days) author dr. Steven Masley. He also found that adding certain foods to your diet can also help prevent DVT.
Here are seven dietary tips to help reduce your risk of DVT.
1. Drink plenty of fluids as this ensures good blood circulation
According to the American Heart Association, dehydration causes the heart to work harder to keep blood flowing through the blood vessels and into the muscles. Guidelines from the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine suggest that women should get an average of 2.6 liters of water from food and drink a day, and men should get 3.6 liters of water each day.
“I advise you to drink plenty of fluids. One should drink at least one and a half or two liters per day, said Dr. C. Alraies. – However, we recommend not to consume a lot of carbonated and carbohydrate-rich drinks.”
You can check if you are drinking enough fluids by paying attention to your urine. If it is slightly yellowish or colorless, it is likely that you are drinking enough water. However, if its color resembles amber or is even darker, you should drink more water.
2. Grape juice and red wine help reduce the stickiness of platelets
According to an analysis of numerous studies published in the Journal of Nutrition, consuming a small amount of red wine or red grape juice daily may reduce the risk of blood clots. This is due to the powerful antioxidants in grapes called polyphenols, which help keep platelets from clumping together.
True, C. Alraies emphasizes that wine should be consumed in moderation: “One glass a day certainly does not pose any danger, but larger amounts can harm the liver, which produces blood-thinning substances.”
3. You will avoid trouble more easily if you season your food with garlic
A study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry indicates that garlic has a number of positive effects. One of them is the possible breakdown of dangerous platelet aggregations in the blood. Scientists say that the beneficial substances in garlic are best absorbed when the garlic is crushed – which releases these beneficial compounds – and then eaten raw, baked in the oven or boiled for less than three minutes.
However, if you are already taking blood-thinning medication, talk to your doctor about how much garlic you can eat, as this vegetable may interfere with the effectiveness of the medication.
4. Avoid unhealthy fats, sugar and salt
Dr. S. Masley emphasized that the same foods that promote the accumulation of plaque in blood vessels also increase the risk of DVT. So, following the recommendations of the American Heart Association, you should avoid unhealthy trans fats, sugar and high salt content. As explained by Dr. S. Masley, “all these products increase inflammation.”
Detecting these substances in food products can be difficult, so it is necessary to carefully read the composition of the product. Sugar comes in many forms, such as honey, molasses, corn syrup, brown rice syrup. Harvard Health recommends reducing your intake of all of them. Sugar can also be named as lactose, fructose, barley malt, malt powder, ethyl maltol or fruit juice concentrate.
Trans fats can hide on labels under ingredients such as partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated oils. After reading product labels, choose products with the least amount of sugar, salt and trans fat.
5. Use pure olive oil
According to a 2019 study funded by the US National Institutes of Health, consuming olive oil at least once a week reduced platelet activity in non-smoking obese (body mass index greater than 30) people. This suggests that this oil may reduce the risk of blood clots.
In addition, a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicated that antioxidants in extra virgin olive oil, called phenols, help prevent blood clots. In a study, people who consumed extra virgin olive oil with high phenolic content had lower levels of blood-clotting substances in their blood. So, in order to avoid DVT, it would be better not to spread the bread with butter, but to soak it in extra virgin olive oil.
6. Eat lots of greens
If you are taking an anticoagulant called Warfarin, foods rich in vitamin K, which is involved in blood clotting, may interfere with the effects of this medicine. “Very often doctors tell their patients to avoid greens,” said Dr. S. Masley. “But I think you need to eat them every day.” The most important thing is to consume the same amount of foods rich in vitamin K every day – this way you will maintain a constant level of this mineral in the body.
According to the US National Institutes of Health, the recommended average daily intake of vitamin K is 122 micrograms for women and 138 micrograms for men. To be clear, 30 grams of spinach contains about 145 micrograms of vitamin K.
7. Eat less animal fat
Dr. Masley says the saturated fat found in full-fat dairy products and fatty meats is also linked to increased inflammation.
Dr. C. Alraies agrees: “Fatty foods, such as hamburgers, meals cooked in oil, red meat or products rich in cholesterol, promote inflammation. Such foods trigger an inflammatory process that poses an additional risk to patients who already suffer from blood clots.”
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2024-04-15 07:21:27