Thrombosis--Blood Clot Factors that can 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 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

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DietaryTipsForHBP

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