Flight Risk: Blood Clots

Flight risk

Q: I'm going on a vacation to Italy next month, and I haven't been on a plane in years. But I'm concerned about blood clots in my legs: My doctor warns me every time I fly that I'm at risk. I used to deal with it by getting up every hour or so and walking up and down the aisle of the plane a few times, but now that the security measures have been tightened up so drastically, I don't want to "rock the boat," so to speak. Do you have any other recommendations?

JVW: There is something else you can do that doesn't require you to get out of your seat (or incur the wrath of the already-frazzled flight crew). In fact, you can start this preventive measure well before you even take off -- the sooner the better.

Two to three decades ago, researchers noted that natives of Greenland had approximately half the rate of heart attacks as residents of Europe or the United States. This was traced to their consumption of relatively large quantities of fish and fish oil, which prevent abnormal clotting of the blood. More recent research has demonstrated that consumption of fish and omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish oil) is associated with a decreased risk of stroke caused by blood clotting. I generally recommend taking 1 tablespoon of cod liver oil per day, along with 400 IU of vitamin E (as mixed tocopherols).

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