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It's easy to get answers about health and nutrition! Just send your question by email to [email protected] and Dr. Harlan will respond to selected questions of general interest. Answers will be posted in the Ask Dr. Gourmet newsletter (sign up now!) and archived in the Ask Dr. Gourmet section of the website.

Please note that the Ask Dr. Gourmet feature is restricted to questions regarding food and nutrition. Due to the many questions we receive, not all questions may be answered. For more specific questions about your individual health, please contact your doctor. About Timothy S. Harlan, MD, FACP, CCMS | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

Get the Coumadin Cookbook!

Coumadin Book

This indispensable book includes:

• A primer on WHAT a Mediterranean-style diet is and WHY it's great for you
• 95+ delicious Coumadin safe recipes
• Information about managing your diet on Coumadin
• Ingredient and cooking tips throughout the book
• Complete Nutrition Facts, including Vitamin K content, for each recipe

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Note: This is a revised and updated version of Dr. Harlan's The Dr. Gourmet Diet for Coumadin Users. These are the same recipes with updated Nutrition Information, with the addition of information on a Mediterranean-style diet.

How Much Vitamin K is in...?

Find out the exact amount of Vitamin K (in micrograms) of almost a thousand common foods! Listed both alphabetically and then in order of the amount of Vitamin K in the food, this list will help you know exactly how much Vitamin K you're eating. Just $4.95 for the eBook (PDF) or $12.95 for the paperback. Get your copy now!


 
 

Ask Dr. Gourmet

Is extra-strength Tylenol safe for Coumadin (warfarin) users?

My mom is on Coumadin 3mgs daily. Her INR test today was 1.8., and her doctor wants it to be 2.5. Can extra strength tylenol interfere with this? She takes it 2x daily for aching feet at night. The doctor increased this Coumadin last week from 1.5 mg to 3mg. What makes her blood drop like this? She's not eating any thing she's not supposed to.

Dr. Gourmet Says...

a box of Extra Strength Tylenol

It is very possible that your mother's Tylenol® use is an issue for her. Physicians generally recommend using acetaminophen because of a decrease in the risk of bleeding when compared to other pain relievers. However, it is possible that Tylenol can have an effect on the INR.

The best plan is to review all of the medications that your mother is taking with her doctor. Take all of the bottles (full, empty, new prescriptions, old prescriptions, and ALL over the counter medications) with you to her visit. Her doctor can help you come up with a plan for consistent use of medications that will help control her pain and keep the INR stable.

Keep in mind that there are a lot of foods that contain Vitamin K and can have an effect on INR levels. A good example is parsley. A tablespoon has about 60 micrograms of Vitamin K. This higher amount in a such a small amount of parsley can be an issue because parsley is found in a wide variety of foods.

Here are links to lists of ingredients and their amounts of Vitamin K. There are both simple and comprehensive lists of ingredients that are used in Dr. Gourmet recipes that may help guide you.

Brief list of Foods that are High in Vitamin K (PDF, 2 pages)
Common Foods Classified as High, Medium, or Low in Vitamin K (PDF, 7 pages)
Common Foods with Exact Vitamin K Amounts (PDF, 7 pages)

Thanks for writing,

Timothy S. Harlan, MD, FACP, CCMS
Dr. Gourmet