Niacin prevents and may help recovery from stroke....
Today's Post: Monday, 3-1-2010
Last Thursday, 2-25-2010, HealthDay News had a story with this headline:
“Vitamin B3 May Help Repair Brain After a Stroke.”
The story reported that researchers at Henry Ford Hospital found that in rats which had purposely caused ischemic strokes apparently grew new blood vessels and new nerve cells in their brains after being given niacin. (Ischemic strokes are the more common type, where blood vessels in the brain are blocked by a blood clot and blood stops getting to some brain cells.)
The story adds that now they are giving niacin to people who've had an ischemic stroke at this hospital.
The story goes on to say that niacin is quite low cost compared to other treatments. So, if this works in people too, it would be very positive news indeed.
The researchers said that niacin is already known to boost levels of HDL cholesterol and that HDL is often very low in people immediately after a stroke.
Michael Chopp, scientific director of the Henry Ford Neuroscience Institute said that this effect
might also work in other kinds of brain injury since new brain cells and blood vessels in the brain were increased.
He also was scheduled to present the results this research at the International Stroke Conference, held Feb. 23 to 26 in San Antonio, Texas – last week.
Since high levels of small particle LDL tend to cause the kind of cardiovascular disease that causes and triggers ischemic strokes and heart attacks and niacin is one of the 3 main ways to directly reduce them, I very strongly suspect that they will find that niacin DOES have this effect in people in part by increasing blood flow and helping to clean out the blood clot and any smaller pieces of it that remain.
Niacin increases HDL and also lowers triglycerides. And, researchers have found that this double action indicates that it directly reduces the high levels of small particle LDL that tend to cause the kind of cardiovascular disease that causes and triggers ischemic strokes and heart attacks and therefore taking niacin increases blood flow to areas where these particles were causing problems before.
Exercise and NOT ingesting transfats or hydrogenated oils will help prevent strokes. Those are the other two ways to directly reduce or prevent the build up of high levels of the small particle LDL that tend to cause the kind of cardiovascular disease that causes and triggers ischemic strokes and heart attacks.
So, that further suggests that where it is possible, these two actions should be added to stroke recovery and rehab plans. (Exercise also has been found to grow new brain cells.)
Also last week, there was a study reported that found that a high fat diet tended to increase the incidence of stroke. Since hydrogenated oils and transfats tend to cause strokes and heart attacks; omega 6 oils such as canola, corn, soy, and safflower oils tend to increase inflammation that helps cause strokes and heart attacks; and excessive intake of animal based saturated fats in butter, cream, and fatty meats increases LDL cholesterol, it’s extremely clear that eliminating hydrogenated oils and transfats and omega 6 oils such as canola, corn, soy, and safflower oils will help prevent strokes and that minimizing of animal based saturated fats will help prevent strokes.
By contrast, monosaturated oils and omega 3 oils seem to help prevent them. Extra virgin olive oil, avocados, and nuts for those not allergic to them are good sources for monosaturated oils. Those oils tend to lower LDL and leave HDL the same or increase it.
Omega 3 oils are in wild caught fatty fish, most of which are low in mercury. And you can also get them in purified fish oil supplements for omega 3 or DHA, a particularly brain beneficial omega 3 oil.
Eliminating those bad oils and fats and added those good ones also sharply lowers inflammation and triglycerides. That means they will help prevent ischemic strokes. And, given DHA’s positive effect on the brain, they may well also help with stroke recovery with DHA likely to prove quite valuable.
Two other nutritional strategies help prevent strokes and may also help with stroke recovery.
Recently a story had research that showed that people who eat dark chocolate and unsweetened cocoa were less likely to get strokes and to have milder, more survivable strokes if they did have them.
Lastly, people who eat blueberries often are less likely to get strokes of either kind. People who eat blueberries often have higher HDL, better blood flow, and tougher but more resilient blood vessels. That combination tends to prevent both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes. Further, since older people who begin eating blueberries often have been shown to regain the memory and thinking skills of younger people, blueberries too may help with stroke recovery.
There are many other ways to prevent strokes and to make effective rehab more likely. But these in this post are new or may be new to you. So, I thought it important to do a post on them.
Today's Post: Monday, 3-1-2010
Last Thursday, 2-25-2010, HealthDay News had a story with this headline:
“Vitamin B3 May Help Repair Brain After a Stroke.”
The story reported that researchers at Henry Ford Hospital found that in rats which had purposely caused ischemic strokes apparently grew new blood vessels and new nerve cells in their brains after being given niacin. (Ischemic strokes are the more common type, where blood vessels in the brain are blocked by a blood clot and blood stops getting to some brain cells.)
The story adds that now they are giving niacin to people who've had an ischemic stroke at this hospital.
The story goes on to say that niacin is quite low cost compared to other treatments. So, if this works in people too, it would be very positive news indeed.
The researchers said that niacin is already known to boost levels of HDL cholesterol and that HDL is often very low in people immediately after a stroke.
Michael Chopp, scientific director of the Henry Ford Neuroscience Institute said that this effect
might also work in other kinds of brain injury since new brain cells and blood vessels in the brain were increased.
He also was scheduled to present the results this research at the International Stroke Conference, held Feb. 23 to 26 in San Antonio, Texas – last week.
Since high levels of small particle LDL tend to cause the kind of cardiovascular disease that causes and triggers ischemic strokes and heart attacks and niacin is one of the 3 main ways to directly reduce them, I very strongly suspect that they will find that niacin DOES have this effect in people in part by increasing blood flow and helping to clean out the blood clot and any smaller pieces of it that remain.
Niacin increases HDL and also lowers triglycerides. And, researchers have found that this double action indicates that it directly reduces the high levels of small particle LDL that tend to cause the kind of cardiovascular disease that causes and triggers ischemic strokes and heart attacks and therefore taking niacin increases blood flow to areas where these particles were causing problems before.
Exercise and NOT ingesting transfats or hydrogenated oils will help prevent strokes. Those are the other two ways to directly reduce or prevent the build up of high levels of the small particle LDL that tend to cause the kind of cardiovascular disease that causes and triggers ischemic strokes and heart attacks.
So, that further suggests that where it is possible, these two actions should be added to stroke recovery and rehab plans. (Exercise also has been found to grow new brain cells.)
Also last week, there was a study reported that found that a high fat diet tended to increase the incidence of stroke. Since hydrogenated oils and transfats tend to cause strokes and heart attacks; omega 6 oils such as canola, corn, soy, and safflower oils tend to increase inflammation that helps cause strokes and heart attacks; and excessive intake of animal based saturated fats in butter, cream, and fatty meats increases LDL cholesterol, it’s extremely clear that eliminating hydrogenated oils and transfats and omega 6 oils such as canola, corn, soy, and safflower oils will help prevent strokes and that minimizing of animal based saturated fats will help prevent strokes.
By contrast, monosaturated oils and omega 3 oils seem to help prevent them. Extra virgin olive oil, avocados, and nuts for those not allergic to them are good sources for monosaturated oils. Those oils tend to lower LDL and leave HDL the same or increase it.
Omega 3 oils are in wild caught fatty fish, most of which are low in mercury. And you can also get them in purified fish oil supplements for omega 3 or DHA, a particularly brain beneficial omega 3 oil.
Eliminating those bad oils and fats and added those good ones also sharply lowers inflammation and triglycerides. That means they will help prevent ischemic strokes. And, given DHA’s positive effect on the brain, they may well also help with stroke recovery with DHA likely to prove quite valuable.
Two other nutritional strategies help prevent strokes and may also help with stroke recovery.
Recently a story had research that showed that people who eat dark chocolate and unsweetened cocoa were less likely to get strokes and to have milder, more survivable strokes if they did have them.
Lastly, people who eat blueberries often are less likely to get strokes of either kind. People who eat blueberries often have higher HDL, better blood flow, and tougher but more resilient blood vessels. That combination tends to prevent both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes. Further, since older people who begin eating blueberries often have been shown to regain the memory and thinking skills of younger people, blueberries too may help with stroke recovery.
There are many other ways to prevent strokes and to make effective rehab more likely. But these in this post are new or may be new to you. So, I thought it important to do a post on them.
Labels: avoid dying from strokes, improve recovery from strokes, new way to make stroke rehab more effective, possible new ways to treat brain injury, prevent strokes
posted by David at 1:59 PM
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