High-vitamin C foods could reduce stroke risk

While an apple a day may keep the doctor away, an orange a day could reduce your risk of stroke. Researchers have found that eating foods high in vitamin C could reduce the risk of the most common type of haemorrhagic stroke.

Haemorrhagic stroke is less common than ischemic stroke, but is often more deadly.

Sixty-five subjects who had experienced intracerebral haemorrhagic stroke (a blood vessel rupture inside the brain) and 65 healthy people were tested for vitamin C levels in their blood. Of all subjects, 41% had normal levels of vitamin C, 45% showed depleted levels and 14% were considered deficient of the vitamin.

The researchers found that, on average, those who had a stroke had depleted levels of vitamin C, while non-stroke sufferers had normal levels of the vitamin.

“Our results show that vitamin C deficiency should be considered a risk factor for this severe type of stroke, as were high blood pressure, drinking alcohol and being overweight in our study,” said study author Stéphane Vannier, MD, from Pontchaillou University Hospital in Rennes, France.

“More research is needed to explore specifically how vitamin C may help to reduce stroke risk. For example, the vitamin may regulate blood pressure.”

Vitamin C may also have other benefits such as creating collagen, a protein found in bones, skin and tissues, Vannier says.

The research will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia from 26 April to 3 May.