We know that people with thick sticky blood have a much higher chance of strokes, heart attacks and high blood pressure.

These things often happen when you are still relatively young, say in your forties and fifties. This is a well known fact and has lead to the widespread use of daily aspirin to thin the blood. However, recently this practice has been called into question by the results of a studay published in the Journal of the American Medical Association JAMA 2012; 307:2286-94.

This study of over 370,000 patients found that those taking low dose daily aspirin were 55% more likely to have serious brain or intestinal bleeding (haemorrhages).

This was five times the risk of bleeding caused by aspirin that was previously estimated.

Patients aged under 50 were at the highest risk. Thus the benefits of aspirin in keeping your blood thin, need to be weighed against the risks of aspirin causing undesirable bleeding.

I am a firm believer in keeping your blood thin as this improves your circulation to all your body organs.

With thinner blood and improved circulation you will have less risk of vascular accidents (such as clots and haemorrhages) affecting your brain, eyes, heart, intestines and limbs. Your endocrine glands will function better as well thus producing more youthful amounts of hormones. You will have less chance of dementia and other neuro-degenerative disorders.

Your circulation is the life blood to every cell in your body and yet many of us never give it a second thought- we take it for granted.

How can we keep our blood thin naturally?

  • Eat oily fish (mackerel, trout, salmon, herrings, sardines and tuna)
  • Eat garlic, especially Australian garlic – if you do not like garlic use onions instead
  • Eat lots of citrus fruits, capsicums, kiwi fruits and berries
  • Try some spicy food – like curries (contain turmeric), chilli, pepper, cayenne and ginger – they are natural blood thinners
  • Keep your liver healthy because it will then make the good cholesterol and not the bad cholesterol and triglycerides
  • Avoid eating too much sugar, as it makes your blood sticky and viscous
  • Drink 8 glasses of water daily

Try to throw in some regular exercise and you will keep your blood naturally thin.

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