Foods to Increase Your Blood Platelets Naturally

November 02, 2015

Platelets protect you from losing too much blood when you get a wound. Found in your blood, platelets are irregularly shaped and sticky with no color. When you get injured, they congregate at the site and form a clot to halt bleeding.

Apart from the medications that your health caregiver has prescribed, you must also include the foods that protect your body from losing too much of blood when you are wounded. Low blood platelet count occurs due to multiple reasons, including medications, viruses, alcohol, genetics, diseases and pregnancy.

Pumpkin

Just like papaya, another orange colored food, pumpkin is also known to be good at improving platelet count. Pumpkin is rich in vitamin A, helps to support the development of the platelet and regulates the proteins that are produced by the body cells . The regulation of protein cells is highly important for elevating the amount of platelets in the blood.

Prepare half glass of fresh pumpkin juice and add 1-teaspoon honey to it. Drink this twice or thrice a day to get maximum benefit. You can also include pumpkin in several other ways in your diet, such as by adding it to baked goods, smoothies, stews, soups and puree.

Papaya

Papaya is the highly recommended fruit to be consumed when the blood platelets are at low levels. Apart from eating the ripe papaya fruit, you can also drink the concoction made from the papaya leaves that is equally helpful in increasing the blood platelets. All you have to do is boil the papaya leaves with water in a kettle, strain and drink the extract twice a day. You can try consuming both the leaf extract and the papaya fruit to increase the blood platelet count fast.

Beetroot

Beetroot is often recommended for anemic patients. According to studies, one bowl of carrot and beets if taken twice a week helps to increase the blood platelet count. You can drink juices of beetroot, eat it as a salad or even prepare a beetroot soup.

Indian Gooseberries

Indian gooseberries also popularly known as Alma are considered effective in increasing the production of blood platelets and boost the immune system. For best results, take 3 to 4 gooseberries on an empty stomach every morning. You can also take Alma juice as an alternate by mixing it with honey. Drinking this mixture 2 to 3 times a day helps to increase the blood platelet production. Alternatively, if you are looking for eating something tasty, you can eat pickles and homemade jam made from the fresh Indian gooseberries.

Pomegranate

The red diamond like seeds of pomegranate is rich in iron just as all the red fruits and help to increase the blood platelet count. Pomegranate is also rich in vitamins, helps you to gain resistance and strength and fight low platelet related health diseases such as dengue fever.

Wheatgrass

A study published in the International Journal of Universal Pharmacy and Life Sciences, 2011 edition, has said that wheatgrass has been found to be beneficial in elevating the level of platelet count. Rather, it has been observed that wheatgrass contributes significantly in increasing the red blood cell, hemoglobin, differential white blood cell counts and white blood cell.

It is because wheatgrass is rich in chlorophyll and has a molecular structure almost similar to the human blood hemoglobin molecule. Drinking a half cup of wheatgrass juice mixed with a few drops of lemon juice daily helps to improve the platelet count.

Eat Your Leafy Greens

When you are injured, proteins are activated to start a series of events to clot your blood and stymie the bleeding. These proteins rely upon vitamin K to get the job done. Without this nutrient, you can’t effectively clot blood and halt bleeding. The adequate intake for kale is 120 micrograms a day for men and 90 micrograms for women.

One cup of chopped kale contains 547 micrograms. Other sources of vitamin K include other green, leafy vegetables, vegetable oils and parsley. According to the Linus Pauling Institute, there is no known toxicity level of vitamin K; however, speak with your physician if you’re taking medication, such as warfarin, before supplementing with vitamin K.