Just Ask Terry

Terry is happy to provide his opinion on diet and nutrition, supplements and lifestyle choices. This information is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to replace the advice of your physician and is not to be considered medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Should you have any concerns please contact your physician directly.

Q. Dear Terry, “My husband has been taking Coumadin prescribed by his physician as a means of thinning the blood. He also suffers from a lot of pain and I would like to give him curcumin but before I do I want to make sure that it is not an additional blood thinner. Have you seen any research that shows curcumin is safe to use with a blood thinner?” — Charlene, Miami, FL

A. Dear Charlene, I have never seen any research that indicates curcumin has blood thinning properties, but just to make sure, I contacted my colleagues in India who have been researching curcumin for the last several decades and asked them their opinion. I will share their exact report with you as follows. “Even though there are a few reports of blood thinning properties of curcumin at high doses, we have not come across any scientific study that reports the blood thinning properties of curcumin. Moreover, we are suggesting curcumin in very low dosages and therefore it is not contra-indicated in patients taking blood thinning medication.” To the best of my knowledge the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston Texas has been prescribing 8-12 grams of curcumin to their cancer patients without experiencing any reports of blood thinning. However, when combining natural products with prescription drugs, we always recommend you discuss this with your health care practitioner.

Healthy regards!

Terry . . . Naturally