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Vitamin
C May Ward Off Stroke The
People who eat a diet rich in vitamin C may be at lower risk of
suffering strokes, and smokers who do so may benefit the most. A new Dutch study finds people with the lowest amount of vitamin C in
their diets were 30 percent more likely to have a stroke than people with
the highest amount of it. People with the highest amount of vitamin C in their diets consumed
more than 133 milligrams of vitamin C per day. People with the lowest
amount in their diets got less than 95 milligrams per day. The recommended
daily amount is 60 milligrams a day. Smokers with diets high in vitamin C were more than 70 percent less
likely to have a stroke than smokers with diets low in vitamin C. Antioxidants such as vitamin C may protect cells from oxidative stress,
which plays a role in stroke, the researchers say. "The lower third will have a higher risk of stroke and those with
higher intake will be at lower risk," says study author Dr. Monique
Breteler of The research "confirms that the healthy diet is good for you, one
that is rich in antioxidants and vegetables, as we have seen over the last
several years," she adds. Researchers studied 5,197 people aged 55 and older living in Participants were then tracked for an average of 6.4 years, and during
that time, 253 of them suffered strokes. The study also found smokers benefited from high levels of vitamin E in
their diets. They were more than 20 percent less likely to have a stroke
than those with diets low in vitamin E. Ironically, nonsmokers with high
vitamin E levels didn't enjoy similar protection. "This is not an excuse to continue smoking. There is more than
enough medical evidence to show that smoking is extremely bad for
you," Breteler cautions. "The effects of anti-oxidation are more
than outweighed by other factors." "But we looked at that because smoking causes damage due to
increased oxidative stress. Then vitamin C has anti-oxidative properties,
so we looked at [that] connection and saw that it was indeed the
case," she says. However, the use of dietary supplements containing vitamins C and E and
other antioxidants didn't seem lower the risk of stroke more, but Breteler
says this finding doesn't mean supplements have no potential benefit. "I think it's important for the public to keep hearing the message
about our diet and reducing stroke risk, and this study shows this quite
very nicely," says Dr. Philip B. Gorelick, head of the
cerebrovascular disease and neurological critical care department at The results appear in the Nov. 11 issue of Neurology. This seems to confirm similar findings from a 2002 Finnish study, which
showed a relationship between low vitamin C levels and an increased risk
of stroke. The study of 2,419 men between the ages of 42 and 60 also
showed a relationship between high levels of vitamin C and reduced stroke
risk, especially in overweight and hypertensive men. One possible explanation is that vitamin C enhances endothelial
function, which inhibits artery clogging and lowers blood pressure. But
the link could also simply be that people who take vitamin supplements or
eat vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables may be more health-conscious than
those who don't. So the study cautions that vitamin C alone may not be responsible for
the results of the study. Rich sources of vitamin C include oranges and other citrus fruits,
strawberries, red and green peppers, broccoli, and brussels sprouts. Good
sources of vitamin E are vegetable oils such as sunflower seed,
cottonseed, safflower, palm and wheat germ oils, margarine and nuts. Vitamin C has had a much heralded history, ever since the 18th century
British explorer James Cook was credited with being the first captain to
use diet as a cure for scurvy, the disease caused by lack of ascorbic
acids. After making his crew eat cress, sauerkraut and an orange extract,
he lost no men to the ailment on several months-long voyages. It has, it also seems, even reached a sort of cult status. One such
example is the efforts of the former Nobel-prize winner Linus Pauling, who
advocated, against medical evidence some say, megadoses of vitamin C to
protect against cancer and many other ailments. Pauling died in 1994 at
age 93. But studies have shown that, since vitamin C passes out of the body via
urine, amounts in excess of what the body can use are simply eliminated. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
