Low platelet count is a condition called Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). To cure this, your doctor is very likely to suggest lifestyle and dietary changes along with any medications (if any), to promote your overall well-being. Dietary changes would not directly affect your platelet count but it can help you in managing your symptoms and feel your best.
About ITP
Let us first understand what platelets exactly are, and what role they play in our body. Whenever we scratch or cut ourselves, we start bleeding. After a few minutes, we see the blood drying and forming a crusty texture and over the exposed skin. This is done in order to stop the cut from bleeding out more and more blood. This process of clotting in order to stop bleeding is carried out by colorless cell-like structures called platelets. So, ITP is a condition of low platelet count were, you have a count of 150,000 platelets or lower per microliter of blood. Platelets are nothing but cell fragments that form clots to stop bleeding in or outside our bodies. So a low count of it can cause a lot of blood loss on any external cut, or a severe cause of internal bleeding. Hence, recovering from it becomes extremely important.
Foods to eat
The best food for curing or recovering from ITP includes all those that are “whole” and “clean”. In other words, it means that packaged and processed foods should be avoided. It is because whole, unprocessed foods provide our bodies with more energy and that helps us in reducing fatigue. So, opting of organic food over non-organic options makes the whole recovery rate faster and better. If you can’t budget the money to buy organic, we should avoid fruits and vegetables with higher amounts of pesticide residue. Your diet should consist of:
Whole Fruits
Green leafy vegetables
Skinless poultry (like chicken breast and ground turkey)
Fatty fish (like salmon)
Healthy fat (from olive oil, avocado, etc)
Flaxseeds
Nuts
Whole grains
Whole wheat bread and pasta
Eggs
Low-fat dairy products in moderation
Foods to Avoid
Other than knowing what to eat, it is extremely important to know what food can affect to aggravate or slow down the recovery of ITP. If you are not sure what affects you more, a diet journal can help you by making sure you eat only what you are supposed to. So, in a way indirectly avoiding the harmful food. It is better to talk to your doctor about the foods you should avoid in consideration of your other underlying health conditions.
Certain studies offer that drinking coffee can create phenolic acid in our bodies. While this acid does not directly affect the platelet count, it affects the functioning of the platelets. So, in ITP, drinking coffee can make it worse. This doesn’t depend on the number of caffeine levels present in the coffee.
Other food items you can avoid are:
Red meat
Garlic and onion (they have a blood-thinning effect on our bodies)
Saturated fats found in dairy products
Fast food
Packaged and processed food
Non-plant-based oils like butter and margarine
Canned food
Fruits with blood-thinning effect (like certain berries, tomatoes, etc)
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