Study Links Vitamin C To Stroke Risk

Getting Enough Of The Nutrient With Fruit And Veg Shown To Cut Risk By More Than Third

(WebMD)  The reasons aren't well understood, but it is increasingly clear that eating plenty of fruits and vegetables is a good way to lower your stroke risk.

In one of the largest studies ever to examine the issue, albeit indirectly, University of Cambridge researchers measured vitamin C levels in more than 20,000 people, who were then followed for roughly a decade.

Blood vitamin C levels tend to be much higher in people who eat lots of fruits and vegetables than in people who do not.

When the participants were divided into four groups based on vitamin C levels, those with the highest concentrations of the vitamin in their blood were found to have a 42 percent lower stroke risk than those with the lowest concentrations.

The association was seen even after the researchers adjusted for a wide range of stroke risk factors.

The findings do not prove that it is the vitamin C in fruits and vegetables that is protective, the researchers note.

And most studies have found that taking vitamin C and other antioxidant vitamin supplements is of no benefit for lowering stroke risk.

But the study is one more indication that eating fruits and vegetables every day may have cardiovascular benefits, says Mark Levine, MD, of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

"We don't know what it is, but the message to the public is clear," he tells WebMD. "Eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Think about color, and eat a rainbow of plant foods. That is a pretty simple thing to do."

A total of 20,649 men and women between the ages of 40 and 79 at entry were included in the British trial, reported in the latest issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

During an average follow-up of 9.5 years, 448 of the study participants had strokes.

Lead researcher Phyo K. Myint, MRCP, and colleagues suggest that the observed increase in risk among people with the lowest vitamin C levels could have clinical implications.

Specifically, vitamin C levels may prove to be a good predictive indicator of stroke risk, independent of known risk factors such as age, smoking history, blood pressure, and cholesterol, they write.

"Given that about half of the risk of stroke is unexplained by conventional cardiovascular disease risk factors and that the predictive validity of traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors appears to diminish with age, risk markers that may help to identify those persons at greatest risk of stroke ... may be of interest."

Stroke specialist Larry B. Goldstein, MD, was chairman of the committee that revised the American Stroke Association's guidelines for stroke prevention in 2006.

Goldstein tells WebMD that a diet high in fruits and vegetables is a good way to accomplish both goals.

He says there is no good evidence that taking vitamins in pill form helps lower stroke risk, and even notes disturbing evidence that antioxidant supplements interfere with the action of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs routinely prescribed to patients at high risk for strokes.

[gaye5]

Oh for goodness sake, as an ex nurse who went into natural medicines 30 years ago, the natural industry has known this for 70 or more years...
I find it interesting that Pharmaceuticals say that the natural hasn''t been proven like drugs have, yet daily we see that these so called proven drugs are taken off the market because they have killed hundreds of people and we read that the fourth cause of death in America is pharmaceutical drugs, yet it is the natural vitamins and minerals that is constantly put down, doesn''t make sense to me eh, or does it.. money????
I think that unless drugs are needed as the last resort that I would rather trust the centuries of the proof of the use of natural products than the last 60 years of drug testing and the deceptions on drugs that goes on..and yes there are old wives tales on the natural and snake merchants but drug companies cant make money out of natural products so they are not even considered..

[rushman71]

Gaye5: I agree. It''s the money that pharmaceuticals are trying to vacuum out of your pockets. They look for every shred of (possible, or should I say impossible) evidence that natural fruits, vegetables, and minerals could cause more harm than good.
Tell me, Big Corporate Hot-Shots, what causes nausia, headaches, high-blood pressure, strokes, vomiting, possible desire of suicide, etc. Doesn''t sound like having an orange to me. It''s the drugs y''all sell that do.

[southerndoc]

Gaye5, "natural" products can be just as dangerous as drugs. Many herbal supplements have been untested, but are often used with serious side effects.

I agree with you, however. Whole foods are a way to prevent, and possibly even treat, disease and should be followed by all Americans. With a good diet, nutrition supplementation is unnecessary.

We have a problem in America where we Americans would rather pop a pill to control our blood pressure, lower our cholesterol, etc. instead of changing our diet to do the exact same thing. If people are willing to risk the side effects, then that''s their choice. There are some people, however, that are incapable of lowering blood pressure or cholesterol with proper diet. For some people, the liver just churns out cholesterol and medicine is required to get it under control.

The bottom line is Americans need to eat healthier and they will find they live longer and healthier lives.

The health care community and Big Pharma will spare no expense to keep people unhealthy. There is profit in a weak immune system. They would like to go back to time before Linus Pauley woke the world up with his revelations about Vitamin C. Just go into any Doctor''s Office and ask them for something to boost your immune system. They have nothing. When was the last time a Doctor ask you about your diet? This article is disinformation from Big Pharma through it propoganda arm WebMD.

[nativewoman]

Shouldn''t this headline have read something like:

Study Links Vitamin C To REDUCED Stroke Risk

The headline makes it sound as though Vitamin C was found to cause stroke risk not reduce the risk.

[ofonorow]

My concern is with the spin in this CBS report. Why not simply stick to the facts? I agree with the first comment htat the title is bad. The first paragraph then tries to diminish the role of vitamin C by bringing up "fruits and vegetables" which have little to do with the levels of vitamin C in the blood. The relationship between blood concentrations and reduction in stroke risk is the important result of this "largest ever" study. Paragraph 3 again introduces "fruits and vegetables" and makes a statement that may or not be true. What we do know is that people who take vitamin C supplements have higher blood levels. The statement that "most studies have found that vitamin C is of no benefit lowering stroke risk" is false. I challenge the fact checkers to find a single study, one that also measured blood levels, which didn''t find a statistically significant benefit of vitamin C w/r stoke. For example, the risk of stroke was 70% higher among those in the lowest quartile for serum vitamin C than among those in the highest. (Yokoyama 2000) Most of the so-called studies this reporter is apparently referring to are based on questionaires and vitamin concentrations in the blood were not measured. Visit the Vitamin C Foundation for more accurate information about this vitamin.