Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Hi Jeff,
Today, I was looking up info on the web about vit., supplements, foods, etc that cause blood thinning. For the past couple years, before and now after my gallbladder removal, I've been plagued with recurrent bloodshot eyes, nosebleeds, easy bruising and also low vit. D levels, even when on supplements.

What I found was that I had been, and am continuing to have an absorption issue of the fat soluble vits., including K--hence the blood being too thin. I knew that gallbladder problems can show up with low D, but no one told me to watch out for this absorption problem.

So I found out what foods to eat to help get and keep my vits. D&K, and what to avoid that could overly thin the blood.

My question leads to what branch of study would know about this? My doc didn't tell me, and I had a heck of a hard time finding out about it on the web. Who would be the best trained in this type issue?--doctors, pharmacists, or registered dieticians?

I'm mad that these type issues go unknown to patients, and I'd like to study to rectify that.
Thanks,
Gwen

Hi Gwen

The areas you are talking about sound to me like biochemistry and pharmacology.

Dietitians are supposed to get training in this, but it is very basic for most of them. I think they pharmacologist, or some study to be a pharmacist, would cover this the most intensively. If you were in a hospital, this would probably be addressed in tandem by both of these disciplines.

There is much overlap in some of these areas so it would be hard to single it out to just one.

What you might want to do is discuss this with some of the heads of departments at some Universities or Colleges and discuss your areas of interest. Even within the same departments, you may find different focuses within the same disciplines based on the professors personal interest and the research they do.

In Health
Jeff Novick, MS, RD