You must have noticed that when you cut yourself, you are protected from bleeding out because your blood clots almost immediately. Platelets are colourless blood cells that are instrumental in the clotting of your blood and helping you heal. On an average, a healthy individual should have about 150,000 to 400,000 platelets for every micro litre of blood. However, due to various reasons such as illnesses like dengue, chronic hepatitis, infections or treatment measures like chemotherapy and radiotherapy, normal platelet counts can drop. If your platelet count falls below the required limit, you are deemed to be suffering from a condition known as thrombocytopenia. Your platelets are like various other parts of your body and tend to expire within a certain span of time. Your body naturally replenishes platelet reserves in your bone marrow. Often, your body might be unable to produce platelets at the rate required, causing your platelet count to drop. Regardless of the cause, your body’s circulating platelets are reduced because they are either trapped in your spleen, are not being produced in sufficient quantities, or are being destroyed at a rapid rate.

Continue reading to learn more about three ways in which your blood platelet count gets lowered and how to increase platelet count naturally at home.

How Do Platelet Counts Get Lowered?

In order to learn more about how to increase blood platelets naturally, you must gain a better understanding of why such a shortage may occur. As mentioned above, your platelet counts can drop due to three main reasons:

Trapped Platelets: The spleen, located on the left side of your body, right below your rib cage, is a small organ that helps fight infection and filter out unwanted material from your bloodstream. In the event that your spleen in enlarged, it can harbour excessive platelets resulting in a drop in the number of platelets circulating in your bloodstream.
Decreased Production: Platelets are produced in your bone marrow. However, due to certain factors, this production can drop, reducing the number of platelets circulating in your bloodstream. Factors that can cause such a drop in platelet production are conditions like leukaemia, certain types of anaemia, viral infections like hepatitis C or HIV, heavy consumption of alcohol, and so on. A reduction is platelet production is known as thrombocytopenia.
Destruction of Platelets: Lastly, certain conditions can cause your body to destroy or use up platelets at a rate that is faster than the rate of production. Conditions that can potentially destroy your blood platelets include pregnancy (temporary and improves after childbirth), immune thrombocytopenia, bacteria in the blood, medications, and so on.

What are the symptoms of Low Platelet Count?

Before delving into how to increase blood platelets naturally, it is important to learn more about how to diagnose low platelet counts. As mentioned above, a shortage of blood platelets is known as thrombocytopenia. While the condition can be life-threatening, especially in situations where you are experiencing significant bleeding, early treatment can help you avoid any serious complications. The first step to seeking effective treatment is keeping an eye out for symptoms. The main symptoms of a low platelet count become apparent while bleeding. While mild thrombocytopenia has no symptoms, often the condition can worsen, and symptoms can appear suddenly or over time. The symptoms that manifest during bleeding can be as follows:

Bleeding that lasts for a longer time than normal, even from minor injuries and cuts.
Petechiae, which are small flat red dots that occur under the skin due to the leakage of blood from blood vessels.
Purpura, which is an indicator of bleeding in your skin and can manifest as red, purple, or brownish-yellow spots.
Frequent nosebleeds or bleeding from your gums.
Presence of blood in your urine or stool which may look red like the colour of blood or a dark, tarry colour.
You may also experience heavy menstrual bleeding.

How to Increase Platelets Naturally at Home?

When it comes to the question how to increase platelets naturally, you can follow the tips given below:

• Consume Colourful Fruits and Vegetables: One of the easiest ways to address the question of how to improve platelet count naturally is to consume fruits and vegetables of different colours. At the most basic level, eating plenty of berries, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, kiwis, oranges, and so on can help increase your platelet levels. Additionally, you should try to eat fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin E and C to enhance your immune system. This includes all kinds of citrus fruits, strawberries, cauliflower, lettuce, turnip, and other food items that contain phytonutrients.

Phytonutrients help neutralise free radicals and help address low platelet counts. Red-hued fruits like watermelons, cherries, berries, and so on, are also loaded with vitamins, minerals, and other anti-oxidant properties that help boost platelet count. Fruits and vegetables that are rich in anti-oxidant properties can reduce any inflammation present in your body and can help increase your platelet count.

If consuming such fruits and vegetables in their natural form is a little challenging for you, you can also include them in your diet using creative means. For instance, beetroots are an excellent source of anti-oxidant substances that help battle diseases. However, if you do not enjoy eating beetroot as is, you can add some carrot and make a beetroot-carrot juice.

Similarly, you can blend boiled spinach with tomato juice to create a platelet-boosting smoothie. If you are looking for more effective means of increasing platelet count, you can drink the bitter extract from papaya leaves. Papaya is known to have natural properties that can enhance blood clotting processes and can help boost platelet production.

Another great source of properties that raise platelet levels is sesame oil. Whether you use it to cook food or consume it raw via salad dressings or in juice, it can help increase your platelet count naturally. Pumpkin, which contains ample amounts of vitamin A, can also help boost the production of platelets in the bone marrow. From gooseberry jam to preparing recipes that incorporate aloe vera and drum sticks, you can ensure that you consume fruits and vegetables that can increase platelet count easily.

• Eat Foods Rich in Omega 3 Fatty Acids: Another way of increasing your platelet count naturally is to eat food that is rich in omega 3-fatty acids. You can ensure that your diet contains a healthy proportion of food such as fish like tuna and wild salmon, free-range eggs, flax seed oil, and so on. Food that contain high amounts of omega 3 fatty acids can help fortify your immune system and naturally boost the production of blood platelets.

• Consume High Amounts of Amino Acids: You can also increase your intake of amino acids to ensure that your blood platelet counts improves naturally. To incorporate more amino acids in your diet you can look towards bee pollen and other substances that have a beneficial effect on processes like haematopoiesis i.e., Formation of blood cellular components.

• Eat Anti-Oxidant Whole Grains: As per clinical studies, researchers have come to the conclusion that certain anti-oxidants such as vitamin E and phytoestrogens commonly found in whole grains are useful when it comes to increasing platelet count. They do so by reducing the platelet aggregating effect of the blood.

• Vitamins: Although maintaining a healthy consumption of vitamins is necessary for regular functioning, it is also equally important if you want to boost platelet production naturally. If you’re worried about how to increase platelet count naturally, you can consult a doctor or medical specialist and begin taking multi-vitamins. Multi-vitamins contain high doses of vitamin A, B, C, D, and K. You should also focus on incorporating foods that are rich in such vitamins in your daily diet. There is a special emphasis placed on consuming vitamin C since it is easily water soluble and can help restore the body’s platelet count faster. For details about how to improve platelet count naturally with vitamin-rich foods, you can begin by following the guide given below:

Water Soluble Vitamins:

Vitamin B1 is found in foods like ham, soymilk, squash, and watermelon.
Vitamin B2 is found in various dairy products like milk, yogurt, cheese, and whole and enriched grains and cereals.
Vitamin B3 is found in foods like meats, fish, poultry, mushrooms, and potatoes.
Vitamin B5 is found in chicken, whole grains, broccoli, avocado, and mushrooms.
Vitamin B6 is found in items like meat, fish, bananas, legumes, tofu, and other soy products.
Vitamin B7 is found in food items such as whole grains, eggs, fish, and soybeans.
Vitamin B-9 is found in food items like fortified grains, cereals, asparagus, broccoli, spinach, legumes, and orange juice.
Vitamin B12 is found in foods like poultry, meat, fish, milk, cheese, cereal, and fortified soy milk.
Vitamin C is found in citrus fruits, broccoli, bell peppers, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, strawberries, and Brussels sprouts

Fat Soluble Vitamins:

Vitamin A is found in foods like beef, liver, shrimp, fish, eggs, sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, pumpkins, mangoes, and eggs.
Vitamin D is found in foods like fortified milk, fatty fish, and cereals.
Vitamin E is found in leafy green vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and vegetable oils.
Vitamin K is found in foods like eggs, spinach, kale, cabbage, and eggs.

By including such foods in your diet in a balanced manner, you can easily consume the vitamins needed to increase your blood platelet count naturally.

Eat Iron-Rich Foods:

Iron is a vital nutrient that is integral to the production of red blood cells in your body. However, often you might see a deficiency of this nutrient which can cause low haemoglobin. However, you might not be aware that such an iron deficiency can also cause a decrease in your platelet count as well. Thus, to ensure that your body produces enough platelets, it is best to consume plenty of iron-rich foods as part of a healthy diet. Iron-rich foods include items such as leafy vegetables like spinach and kale, lentils, raw bananas, guavas, pumpkin seeds, dates, and so on.

You can also consume wheatgrass which contain high levels of chlorophyll that resembles haemoglobin structurally. Eating wheatgrass can be useful when it comes to increasing platelet count. Additionally, it can also help increase the production of red blood cells and white blood cells in the bloodstream. If you’re not sure how to consume wheatgrass, you can do so by making a juice. Wheatgrass can be of immense help to those who have lost platelets due to the side-effects of chemotherapy.

Additionally, you can also consult with a doctor and begin taking iron supplements if you need a little help in incorporating iron in your diet.

If you have been wondering how to increase platelets naturally, then you can consume the food listed above to boost platelet creation in your body naturally. Do make sure to get yourself diagnosed and tested by a medical professional if you see any symptoms of low platelet counts. While natural remedies can help you boost platelet counts naturally, you might also require medical assistance and need to take certain medication to treat your condition. If you have difficulty sticking to a healthy diet and need more specific guidance as to what you should eat to increase your platelet count, you can also consult a dietician or nutritionist.

However, regardless of whether or not you suffer from any conditions entailing low platelet counts, eating healthy food items as listed above can help ensure that your platelet count is maintained at a healthy level necessary to support regular functioning of your body.