Thrombosis : Blood Clot Factors that May Save Your LIFE

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Thrombosis

 

Blood Clot Factors that can Save your Life

 

The surprising fact is that the way your blood clots is probably the single

greatest determinant of whether you suffer a heart attack, a stroke, or blood

vessel damage. experts now know that thrombotic factors –how the blood flows,

its viscosity, its stickiness, the tendency for clots to form and enlarge are

primary in determining such catastrophes.

And diet can have enormous influence on blood clotting factors. Indeed, evidence

suggests that the major influence of diet on heart disease has more to do with

blood clotting factors than with blood cholesterol,. And the benefits of eating

to modify blood clot factors are apt to kick in fairly quickly.

 

Cardiologists once thought the narrowing of arteries from plaque buildup

triggered heart attacks by leading to heart rhythm disturbances. But its now

widely accepted that a blood clot is the immediate cause of 80 to 90 percent of

heart

attacks as well as strokes. Several factors, strongly affected by diet, are

critical to whether or not you form clots.

One is how prone your platelets—the smallest of blood cells—are to aggregate or

clump together, enabling them to form clots and better cling to vessel walls.

Another factor: blood fibrinogen, a protein that is a raw material for clot

formation. High circulating levels of fibrinogen are prime predictors of heart

disease and stroke.

 

Also crucial is your ‘fibrinolytic’ system, which breaks up and dissolves

unwanted and dangerous clots. The vigor of this clot-dissolving activity along

with fibrinogen levels is the “number one determinant of heart disease”, says

Harvard cardiologist Dr. Victor Gurewich.

 

Doctors routinely warn against taking aspirin before surgery. The fear is that

aspirin can ‘thin the blood’, slowing blood clotting. But did you ever have a

surgeon tell you not to eat Chinese food before an operation? Or to avoid heavy

doses of ginger, garlic, black mushrooms, and fatty fish like sardines and

Alaskan salmon?

 

The truth is that all of these foods are also anticoagulants that may

dramatically retard blood-clotting tendencies and often by exactly the same

biological mechanism as aspirin, by blocking a substance called thromboxane that

clamps down on platelet clumping or aggregation, a crucial step in clot

formation.

In contrast, fatty foods like cheese and steak make the blood sluggish by making

platelets stickier and more apt to clot.

 

Additionally, certain foods raise or lower blood clot-essential fibrinogen and

rev up or slow down the clot-dissolving activity. Still other foods influence

blood viscosity, and fluidity, setting the stage for or staving off

inappropriate clots that can cause blood vessel blockages to the heart, brain,

legs and lungs. Undeniably, foods in very small quantities regularly eaten can

have powerful pharmacological effects on the tendency of blood to clot, and

thus, can help save you from cardiovascular tragedies.

 

One of your greatest weapons—if not your primary one—against heart attack and

stroke is good foods. Here’s what to eat and not to eat:

 

Garlic and Onions: Ancient Clot fighters

 

Its an ancient truth: garlic and onions are strong medicines against unwanted

blood clots. An early Egyptian papyrus called onions a tonic for the blood.

Early American doctors prescribed onions as “blood purifiers”. French farmers

feed horses garlic and onions to dissolve clots in their legs. The Russians

claim vodka spiked with garlic improves circulation. It’s no longer

unsubstantiated folklore.

 

Garlic and onions are full of potent clot-fighting compounds and powers.

 

Eric Block, Ph. D. head of the chemistry department at the State University of

New York at Albany, isolated a garlic compound named ajoene (after ajo, the

Spanish word for garlic) that has anti-thrombotic activity, equal to or

exceeding that of aspirin, a well-recognized blood clot inhibitor.

Indeed, aspirin performs only one way as an anticoagulant by stifling production

of thromboxane. Ajoene does that, and additionally blocks platelet clumping

seven other ways –

all by pathways known, according to garlic researcher Mahendra K. Jain, Ph. D,

professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Delaware. “Garlic’s

mechanism is unique,” he relates.

 

George Washington University medical researchers have detected three additional

anti-clotting compounds in garlic and onions, including a major one, adenosine.

Garlic’s anti-thrombotic activity in humans is well-documented by numerous

studies. Three raw garlic cloves a day recently improved both clotting time and

clot-dissolving fibrinolytic activity by about twenty percent in a double-blind

study of 50 medical students in India.

 

Recent German research shows that garlic compounds definitely speed up

blood-clot dissolving activity and improve blood fluidity. Such simultaneous

action, researchers at Saarlane University in Homburg/Saar say, improves

circulation and in fact helps ‘purify’ the blood of unwanted elements.

 

How much garlic? Several garlic cloves or more have a pronounced beneficial

effect on clotting activity, says David Roser, a British garlic researcher.

 

Dr. Jain’s blood thinning garlic tips

 

One of garlic’s most powerful and well tested anticoagulant compounds is called

ajoene. Here are some ways to release the most ajoene from garlic, according to

garlic researcher Mahendra K Jain, Ph D. Professor of biochemistry at he

University of Delaware.

*Crush garlic instead of chopping it crushing releases enzymes and the allicin

that converts to ajoene.

*Saute’ garlic lightly; cooking releases ajoene

*Cook garlic with organic tomatoes or other acidic foods. even a little acid

releases more ajoene.

*Add just enough vodka to cover crushed garlic, and let steep for several days

uncovered. this releases ajoene.

 

Yes, the old Russian folk recipe for blood thinning really works, Dr Jain’s

tests revealed. he also found that mixing crushed garlic with feta cheese and

extra virgin olive oil, which is a reputed Greek remedy for heart disease

produced lots of ajoene.

 

How about a little fish pate’?

 

For a clot blocker and buster, you can’t beat fish, high in marvelous omega-3

fatty acids. Most scientists attribute fish’s heart protecting powers primarily

to the oil’s remarkable effects on blood coagulation.

Studies consistently show that fatty fish regulate how the blood flows and

clots.

Paul Nestel, chief of Human Nutrition at the Commonwealth Scientific &

Industrial Research Organization in Australia, and his colleagues have found

that eating about five ounces of Alaskan salmon or sardines a day lowered

hazardous fibrinogen an average 16 percent.

Interestingly in the same study, fish oil capsules did not affect blood clotting

factors. One explanation says Dr Nestel, is that fish have other compounds

besides fat that benefit anti-clotting factors.

 

Eating fatty fish literally changes the shape of blood platelets so they can’t

lock together to form unwanted blood clots.

 

That’s what researchers at the Department of Agriculture discovered. When you

eat fish oil, your platelets release much less of the substance called

thromboxane that instructs platelets to stick together, according to USDA’s

Norgerta Schoene, Ph.D.

 

More fascinating, thromboxane creates sticky platelets by stimulating them to

swell up into little round balloons and then to grow spikes so that they can

interlock with other platelets. In this state they are called ‘activated’ or

‘sticky’, ready and able to clump together to form blood clots.

Thus, fatty fish, by suppressing thromboxane, preserves the healthy normal disc

shape of platelets so they can’t cling together and form clots to plug up your

arteries.

 

Red Wines’ Wondrous Anti-Coagulant

 

A little red wine can thin your blood, retarding clots. The reason is not just

the alcohol but other complex constituents in the red wine. In a classic study,

the French scientists Martine Seigneur and Jacques Bonnet, M.D. at the Hospital

Cardiologique in Pessac, tested the effects of three alcoholic beverages on

blood clotting in 15 healthy men.

For two weeks every day they drank a half liter of either a red Bordeaux wine, a

white Bordeaux wine or a synthetic wine made with water, alcohol and flavoring.

The results: The synthetic wine increased platelet clumping.

White wine did not change platelets and slightly boosted LDL (bad) cholesterol.

Red wine was the clear winner!

It both depressed platelet clumping and boosted HDL (good) cholesterol.

 

Thus the researchers pronounced red wine’s anti-coagulant powers unique in

protecting the heart.

Cornell university scientists believe that wine’s main anti clotting agent is

reservatrol, a chemical in grape skins.

If you drink red grape juice or red wine you may get some reservatrol, which is

concentrated in grape skins, says Leroy Creasy, Ph.D., a professor at Cornell

University’s College of Agriculture.

The compound, say Japanese researchers, is the main active ingredient in an

ancient Chinese and Japanese medicine used to treat blood disorders.

 

Drink Tea for Healthy Arteries.

 

Curious as it may seem, drinking tea gives your arteries an anti-thrombotic

infusion.

Research presented at the first international scientific conference on the

physiological and pharmacological effects of tea, held in New York City in 1991,

reveals that the tea protects arteries by influencing good clotting factors.

 

Tea chemicals can reduce blood coagulability, prevent platelet activation and

clumping, increase clot dissolving activity and decrease deposits of cholesterol

in artery walls all of which fend off artery damage.

A pioneer in tea and atherosclerosis, Lou Fu-quing, M.D. professor and chairman

of the department of Internal medicine at Zhejiang Medical university in China,

has studied the effect of tea chemicals on heart attack victims.

 

Dr. Lou told the conference that pigment from common black tea or Asian style

green tea thwarted patient’s platelet clumping (also thromboxane production) and

improved their clot-dissolving functioning. Surprisingly, he said both ordinary

black tea that Americans commonly drink and Asian green tea worked equally well.

Scientists at Japan’s Central Research Institute also noted that a particular

type of tannin in green tea, called catechin, blocked the clumping of platelets

just as strongly as aspirin did.

Tea also appears to help block LDL cholesterol stimulation of the proliferation

of smooth muscle cells on the walls of arteries, such cell growth fosters the

buildup of arterial plaque.

 

Vegetables are Clot Busters

 

To discourage unwanted blood clots, eat fruits and vegetables high in vitamin C

and fiber The most prodigious eaters of fruits and vegetables have the most

energetic clot dissolving systems, according to a recent Swedish study of 280

middle aged adults. Further, the lowest levels of clot promoting fibrinogen,

belong to vegetarians, especially vegans who eat no animal products at all.

including Dairy. The probably reason is that compounds in fruits and vegetables

lower fibrinogen, while animal fat and cholesterol push it up. vegetarians also

have lower blood viscosity than meat eaters: lower viscosity is linked to lower

blood pressure.

 

The Hot Chili Pepper Effect

 

Hot Chili Peppers are clot busters. Evidence for this comes fromThailand, where

citizens eat capsaicum chili peppers as a seasoning and as an appetizer,

infuisng their blood with chili pepper conpounds several times a day.

Thai reearchers reason that this may be the primary reason thromboembolisms

–life threatening blood clots- are rare among Thais.

 

To prove the theory, hematologist, Sukon Visudhiphan, M.D. and colleagues at the

Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok did a test. They fortified homemade rice noodles

with hot pepper, using two teaspoons of fresh ground capsium jalapeno pepper in

every 200 grms of noodles (about one and one third cups). Then they fed the

peppery noodles to sixteen healthy medical students.

Four other control subjects ate plain noodles. Almost immediately, the clot

dissolving activity of the blood of those who had eaten the pepper laced noodles

rose.

Nothing happened in the blood of the plain noodle eaters.

Dr Visudhiphan believes the frequent stimulation from hot chilies continually

clears the blood of clots, leavingThaïs generally less vulnerable to arterial

blockages.

 

Spicy Clot Busters

 

Eat common spices to keep your blood free of dangerous clots.

Krishna Srivatava, of Odense University in Denmark, screened eleven spices and

found that seven discouraged blood platelet clumping. Most potent are cloves,

ginger, cumin and turmeric.

“Cloves are stronger than aspirin in this respect,” says Dr. Srivastava. The

primary active agent in cloves is probably eugenol, which also helps protect the

structure of platelets even after they have been ‘aggregated”. Dr. Srivastava

says the spices work through the prostaglandin system, somewhat the way aspirin,

garlic and onions do.

Ginger compounds are a stronger inhibitor of prostaglandin synthesis than the

drug indomethacin, known for its potency , says Dr. Srivastava.

Ginger is indeed a proven anti coagulant in humans.

Dr Dorso of the Cornell University Medical college confirms the active agent is

gingerol, a constituent of ginger that strongly resembles aspirin.

 

Black Mushroom

 

To ward off clots, infuse your blood with the medicine of the Asian black fungus

mushroom known as mo-er or “tree ear”. It has a formidable reputation in Chinese

traditional medicine for its beneficial effects on blood. Some call it a

‘longevity tonic’. with good reason, according to Dale Hammerschmidt, M.D., a

hematologist at he University of Minnesota medical school.

It turns out that the black mushroom contains several blood thinning compounds,

including adenosine, also present in garlic and onions. Dr. Hammerschmidt

surmises that the combination of so many anti-clotting foods in the Chinese diet

such as garlic, onions, black mushrooms and ginger, may help account for their

low rates of coronary artery disease.

 

Olive oil fights clots

 

In addition to everything else it does, olive oil even retards the stickiness of

blood platelets, which may help account for olive oil’s artery protecting

powers.

British researchers at the Royal free Hospital and school of medicine in London

had volunteers take three fourths of a table spoon of olive oil twice a day for

eight weeks in addition to their regular diet. Their platelet clumping scores

took a dive. The scientists found that platelet membranes contained more oleic

acid (the dominant essential fatty acid in olive oil) and less arachidonic fatty

acids that encourage stickiness.

The olive oil fed blood platelets also released less thromboxane A2, a substance

that commands platelets to cling together. All told, olive oil benefits platelet

function, the researchers concluded, saying it is yet one more explanation of

why population that depend heavily on olive oil- in the Mediterranean area have

less heart disease.

 

 

Fats—Blood Clot Villain

 

Go easy on fat if you want to keep your blood clear of clots. Unquestionably, a

high fat diet does bad things for your blood, beyond boosting your blood

cholesterol. Too much fat can also buck up the bloods tendency to coagulate and

form dangerous clots. A recent study at south Jutland University in Denmark

found that high amounts of both saturated and omega-6 type vegetable fats such

as polyunsaturated refined corn oil, promoted clot forming fibrinogen.

 

In their study a group of healthy adults who ordinarily ate diets high in trans

(hydrogenated) fats and saturated fats switched to various lower fat diets for

two weeks at a time. All of the lower fat diets suppressed blood clotting

tendencies by 10 to 15 percent. Much research also shows that fat, particularly

hydrogenated transfat and saturated fat, slows down clot dissolving activity.

One recent study found that the fat from a fatty meal lingers in the bloodstream

fomenting trouble, for up to four hours.

_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjoguest

DietaryTipsForHBP

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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