Q: Hello,
I am on Warfarin therapy and I would like to know if the Acai berry has too high a level of salicylates as a lot of red/purple berries have, therefore thinning the blood too much.
Regards
Susan Armstrong
A: Susan,
I am going to write my personal definitive statement here so I can use it for all future questions of this kind. It will be posted to the “most frequently asked questions” category of our blog.
First, acai does not contain salicylates. Anthocyanins (ACNs), proanthocyanidins (PACs), and other flavonoids are found to be the major phytochemicals. Resveratrol is present in very low concentrations. In addition, components including fatty acids, amino acids, sterols, minerals, and other nutrients have been identified and quantified.
Second, if “I” were taking Coumadin/Warfarin or another blood thinner “I” would not avoid fruits or vegetables, juices or whole. The amount of blood thinning properties contained in one, two, or even three ounces of acai, goji, or whatever is so negligible that I wouldn’t even question consuming the fruit for a millionth of a second.
Now remember this is me, an 18 year practicing holistic doctor with tens of thousands of hours spent in research and treating patients. What you ultimately do is up to you or you and your doctor. I can’t make the decision for you, all I can do is to tell you what I would do and why.
What the medical and pharmaceutical professions do is to take a piece of data like this: “goji or acai has been shown to possess blood thinning properties”. Then what they fail to tell us by a crime of omission is: Was it mild, slight, moderate, or severe? What amount of fruit caused it? Was the test performed in a test tube, animal, or human? …….?
Medications should be a last resort not the first. A deficiency state existed first which made the body susceptible to becoming sick, and it sure as heck wasn’t’ a deficiency of a medication. The lack of certain minerals, vitamins, protein, and/or essential fatty acids caused the body to move from the “brick house” (strong and immune to disease), to the “stick house” (weaker and now susceptible to body problems), to the “straw house” (weaker still and unable to avoid body problems).
What causes diabetes or cardiovascular disease, the above or a medication deficiency? So why not correct the above instead of activating or suppressing a normal and needed body function with: blood thinners, heart muscle regulators, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin receptor blockers, diuretics, cholesterol-lowering medication, and others.
For almost every medication there exists a natural substance that can perform the identical job without side-effects, maybe not as quickly or as strongly but far more efficiently. Here are just two examples: fish oils (EPA/DHA) and Vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol) as a combination work famously to keep platelets from forming clots, exactly what Warfarin is for. The number one cause of high blood pressure and high cholesterol are being over weight. Being overweight can also cause diabetes. Two symptoms caused by diabetes are high blood pressure and high cholesterol? What a vicious circle. Analytically, a natural diet and exercise program sounds like the right treatment, yes. You and I both know what the majority do and it’s not the side-effect free, diet and exercise option.
This is probably a little more than you were expecting but I had to put this to rest. I hope it was at least educational.
Sincerely,
Marcus Ettinger DC, BSc.
