9 Ways to improve your platelet count

Found in your blood, platelets are irregularly shaped and sticky with no color. Platelets protect you from losing too much blood when you get a wound. When you get injured, they congregate at the site and form a clot to halt bleeding. A normal platelet count in a healthy person ranges from 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per microliter of blood. When the count is below 150,000 per microliter, it is considered a low platelet count.

Causes of Low Platelet Count

The major causes of thrombocytopenia or low platelet count are as follows:

• Decrease in the production of platelets: due to leukemia, anemia, or other infections.
• Exposure to toxic chemicals, chemotherapy drugs
• Deficiency of essential vitamins like vitamin B12.
• Autoimmune disease: autoimmune diseases like AIDS cause destruction of platelets in the body.
• Infections: Bacterial and viral infection in the blood like Dengue and health problems like idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP).
• Medication: Certain drugs like aspirin, ibuprofen and heparin lead to lower platelet count in the blood. Intake of certain antibiotics may also destroy the platelets in the blood.
• Alcohol: Excessive consumption of alcohol may also lead to reduced platelet count in the body.

Nutritional management

1.    Papaya

Both the papaya fruit and its leaves can help increase a low platelet count within just a few days. Papaya leaf juice can increase the platelet count of people diagnosed with dengue fever.

• Eat raw papaya or drink a glass of papaya juice with a little lemon juice 2 or 3 times daily.
• You can also pound a few papaya leaves without the stalk using a pestle and mortar to extract the juice. Drink 2 tablespoons of this bitter juice 2 times a day.

2. Vitamin C

To increase your platelet count, you need to increase your intake of vitamin C. Being a powerful antioxidant, high doses of vitamin C also prevent free-radical mediated damage of the platelets. Your body requires 400 to 2,000 mg of vitamin C per day, depending on your age and overall health.

• Eat foods high in Vitamin C like lemons, oranges, tomatoes, cantaloupes, kiwi, spinach, bell peppers and broccoli.
• You may also take vitamin C in supplement form daily.

3. Indian Gooseberries

Indian gooseberries (amla) helps significantly in raising platelet count. Vitamin C in amla can help increase the production of platelets and boost your immune system.

• Eat 3 to 4 gooseberries on an empty stomach every morning.
• Alternatively, mix together 2 tablespoons each of amla juice and honey. Drink it 2 or 3 times daily.
• You can also eat homemade jam or pickles made with fresh Indian gooseberries.

4. B12 Rich Foods:

B12 deficiency causes Pernicious anemia and reduction in platelet count. Foods rich in vitamin B12, these are seafood, liver, red meat, milk, fortified soy products.

3. Folate Rich Food

Severe deficiency of folate in the body can result to reduction in blood platelets.  A healthy adult should consume at least 400 mg of folate everyday as part of their diet. Some folate rich foods include green leafy vegetables (like spinach), asparagus, orange juice, and fortified cereals.

 4. Zinc:

Zinc is essential to reverse the effects of thrombocytopenia. Foods rich in zinc are seafood, beef and lamb, wheat germ, spinach, pumpkin and squash seeds, nuts, cocoa, chocolates, pork and chicken, beans, mushrooms.

5. Vitamin A Rich Foods

Vitamin A is essential for healthy platelet production. It helps in the process of cell division and growth. Some foods rich in vitamin A are carrot, pumpkin, kale and sweet potatoes.

6. Chlorophyll from Wheatgrass

Chlorophyll has a remarkably similar molecular structure to that of hemoglobin. Chlorophyll is also known as the blood of plants. This nutrient has a strong effect in overall blood production including hemoglobin, red blood cell, total white blood cell and increase of platelet count in the body. Wheatgrass juice comprises over 70% of chlorophyll and it is one of the best sources for the nutrient. Take half cup each day with a little lemon.

7. Vitamin K Rich Foods

Vitamin K is a necessary ingredient that keeps cell growth at optimum levels in the body. Platelets last up to 10 days so a healthy quantity of platelets need to be continually produced to replace the lost amount in the body. Vitamin K is also needed to aid blood clotting.  Eggs, liver, spinach, kale and other greens are high in Vitamin K content.

8. Milk

Milk is high in calcium and B12 which can help your body regenerate platelets. The calcium works along with Vitamin K and the milk protein fibrinogen to form clots. Apart from milk, you can also consume cheese, yogurt and organic dairy products to keep your calcium levels at an optimum.

9. Macrobiotic Diet

Based on constant research on the body’s nutritional needs along with studies on the patterns of platelet production, a vital anti-inflammatory diet is recommended. This diet has shown to help in optimum blood production. The diet recommends a consistent consumption of whole grains, vegetables and organic beans. It however recommends reduction in intake levels of animal protein except for fish and high quality natural cheese and yogurt. The diet also recommends avoiding certain food elements that includes aspartame, alcohol, bitter lemon, quinine, tonic water and bitter melon.