Aspirin, one of the best blood-thinning or anticoagulant medicines, was derived from the bark of a willow tree. It was only in 1970s, that a hormone like substance called prostaglandin was discovered. With this discovery, the scientists began to understand how aspirin works. They now know that the drug has anti-platelet-aggregation powers. It discourages platelets, the smallest blood components, from clumping together or aggregating. They are thus less sticky and less able to build clots that can clog arteries.
This is one of the reasons why doctors believe that low doses of aspirin help ward off heart attacks and strokes. Only 30 mg of aspirin inhibits platelet clumping. Aspirin works by blocking action of a prostaglandin-like substance called thromboxane which otherwise would stimulate platelets to stick together. With this discovery, scientists began to study other plants and foods, which would also work through the prostaglandin system to inhabit platelets clumping. There are certain food compounds which like the aspirin, are antagonists to thromboxane.
Latest studies suggest that diet can have enormous influence on blood clotting factors. Indeed, evidence suggests that the major influences of diet on heart disease have more to do with blood clotting factors than with blood cholesterol. The benefits of eating to modify blood clot factors are likely to work fairly quickly. A prominent French health official, Dr. Serge C. Renaud,says preventing blood clots can sharply cut your chances of heart attack within a year, whereas it usually takes longer to reduce heart attack risk by lowering cholesterol. However, many foods, such as onions and garlic, do both and so they provide double benefits.
Chill Pepper
Hot chilli peppers are a powerful anti-coagulant food. They are very effective in preventing blood clots. This evidence comes from Thailand, where people eat capsicum chilli peppers as a seasoning and as an appetizer. This infuses their blood with chilli pepper compounds several times a day. Research scientists believe that this may be primary reason why thromboembolisms, which is life-threatening blood clots, are rare among Thais.
To prove the theory, hematologist Sukon Visudhi-phan, M.D., and colleagues at the Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok conducted a test. They fortified homemade rice noodles with hot pepper, using two teaspoons of fresh ground capsicum pepper in every 200 grams of noodles. Then they fed the peppery noodles to 16 healthy medical students. Four others ate plain noodles. Almost immediately, the clot-dissolving activity of the blood of the eaters of pepper-laced noodles rose but returned to normal in about 30 minutes. Nothing happened to the blood of the plain noodle eaters.
The effect of chilli pepper was thus short-lived. However, Dr. Visudhiphan believes that frequent stimulation through hot chillies continually clears the blood of clots. This makes Thai people generally less vulnerable to blockage of arteries.
Clove
This popular spice is a powerful anti-coagulant food. It helps keep the blood free of dangerous clots. According to Dr. Krishna Srivastava of Odense Univerity in Denmark, cloves are stronger than aspirin in this respect. The primary active agent in this spice is eugenol, which also helps protect the structure of platelets even after they have been “aggregated”. Dr. Srivastava says that the clove works through the prostaglandin system more or less in the same way as do aspirin, garlic and onion. Cloves help reduce the production of thromboxane, which is a powerful promoter of platelet clumping.