Stroke Recovery Vitamin
Common Health Issues

Stroke Recovery Vitamin

Causes of Stroke

Stroke occurs when blood flow is restricted to certain parts of the brain. Without blood, brain cells become starved of oxygen and die.

After somebody has a stroke, there is a very high risk of death from cardiovascular disease or other causes.

Researchers are trying to understand why some people live longer than others after having a stroke.

 

Stroke Recovery Vitamin

They found that a metabolite of vitamin A is a very good predictor of survival in the six months after a stroke. 

The results suggest that eating more vitamin A-rich foods may be protective for stroke survivors.

These researchers carried out human research at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, China. The journal Neurology published the results.

 

Importance of Vitamin A

 

Vitamin A is important for the healthy function of the cardiovascular system.

We can get it from animal foods such as liver and the body can also make small amounts of vitamin A from beta carotene, which is in plant foods such as carrots.

One of the main functions of vitamin A is to produce retinoic acid. Retinoic acid is responsible for many of the benefits attributed to vitamin A.

Animal experiments show that retinoic acid can decrease the severity of a stroke.

Retinoic acid also improves recovery from stroke in lab animals.

So the researchers decided to investigate the relationship between retinoic acid and risk of death in the months after stroke.

“We explored the association between serum retinoic acid in patients with acute ischemic stroke and mortality risk in the six months after admission.”

They carried out this research at three university hospitals.

Researchers took blood tests for retinoic acid levels in over 1,500 stroke survivors.

They tracked them for six months and kept records on death and cause of death.

“The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality or cardiovascular disease mortality in the 6 months after admission.”

The researchers calculated the relationship between the levels of retinoic acid and the risk of death.

“The significance of retinoic acid level and established risk factors in predicting mortality were determined.”

People with higher levels of retinoic acid had a lower risk of death.

“Retinoic acid levels showed prognostic significance, with decreased all-cause (55%) and cardiovascular mortality (63%).”

The research found that the lower someone’s retinoic acid levels were, the higher the chances of dying in the six months after surviving a stroke.

People with low retinoic acid had a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease or any other cause.

“Low levels of retinoic acid were associated with increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality.”

The results show that retinoic acid is (at the very least) a predictor of risk of death in stroke survivors.

“The results indicate that retinal gassing could be a predictor independent of conventional risk factors.”

The research is in agreement with the previous animal experiments.

A number of rat studies show that retinoic acid accelerates recovery from experimental stroke.

“Investigations have also found that retinoic acid in rats with cerebral ischemia improved recovery of neurologic function.”

But this was the first study to follow up on the animal research looking at retinoic acid and stroke risk factors in humans.

“Previous studies evaluated retinoic acid supplementation in animal models of stroke. This was the first study on the correlation between retinoic acid levels and mortality risk in patients with stroke.”

Another human study looked at levels of retinoic acid and the risk of cardiovascular disease.

That study found that people with low levels of retinoic acid were at greater risk.

“A previous report noted that plasma retinol levels were inversely correlated with cardiovascular disease mortality in Australian adults.”

The researchers called for studies looking at the effect of vitamin A or retinoic acid supplementation in stroke survivors.

“Whether supplementing retinoic acid or vitamin A would be beneficial for mortality prevention should be further investigated with long-term controlled clinical trials.”

In order to improve the chances of recovery from stroke, patients should be encouraged to eat a Vitamin A-rich diet and given supplements of Vitamin A.

 

Would you like to learn how to use healthy eating to prevent diet-related illnesses?

 

This free online Introduction to Human Nutrition course will give you a broad insight into nutrition and help you make wise choices when it comes to the food you eat every day. These days, health problems such as obesity, type II diabetes, and cardiovascular disease are becoming more and more common. By the end of this course, you will understand the role nutrition plays in personal health and be able to create a healthy diet for yourself. Learn more and register for the course here

 

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Rich Health Editorial Team

Health Research

Rich Health Editorial Team is made up of medical practitioners and experienced writers who provide information for dealing with health issues in a simple and easy-to-understand manner