Tag Archive for 'stroke'

Tomatoes could provide some protection against strokes

Published on October 15, 2012 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

The chemical lycopene is found in some fruits and vegetables and gives them their rich red color. It is a very powerful antioxidant that is similar to a sponge in the way it soaks up damaging molecules called free radicals. Cells can be damaged from these free radicals if no action is taken to destroy them.

Tomatoes are especially rich in lycopene so eating tomatoes daily and putting red sauce on your spaghetti, meatballs and other foods could possibly decrease your risk for having a stroke, according to research that was recently published in the journal Neurology. Study author Jouni Karppi, of the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio, says “this study adds to the evidence that a diet high in fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of stroke.” Karppi claims that the chemical lycopene helps to protect the brain.

The researchers in the study tested the amount of lycopene in the blood of more than 1,000 Finnish men from age 46 to 65, beginning in 1991. The men were then observed for more than 10 years by scientists to record the number who had strokes. They found that the men who had the highest levels of lycopene were 55% less prone to have a stroke than those with the lowest amounts in their blood.

Although the study focuses mainly on the benefits of tomatoes and their containment of lycopene, there is other data that supports eating fruit and vegetables in general to avoid the risk of strokes. There isn’t a sufficient amount of proof that eating tomatoes will lessen your risk of stroke.

A lot of focus has been on lycopene recently because of it’s strong antioxidant powers. Experts believe that if we do not consume enough lycopene type foods, too many free radicals store up in the body causing blood vessels to be damaged by forming fatty deposits. As these deposits build up, a blockage can form. If that vessel with the blockage happens to be in the brain, the blockage can cause a stroke.

Tomatoes can also help reduce strokes in other ways. They provide a good source of potassium, which is known to reduce blood pressure. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for getting a stroke.

Even though experts say all the credit can not go to lycopene rich tomatoes alone, they recommend eating about 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Obviously it would be wise to include tomatoes in that assortment. If you do choose to eat more tomatoes, researchers say that cooked tomatoes appear to provide more protection than raw.

New research discovers link between music ability and speech

Published on February 24, 2010 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

2438025122_45c04dabc5Two very natural abilities have now been found to be related to each other. Science has now established that these two abilities are linked in the brain. This is so profound because it could mean a more efficient way to treat strokes.

In the studies, they found that language and instrumental music overlap each other in the brain’s processing area. Researchers at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science indicated that intensive musical therapy could help improve speech in stroke patients. Also, researchers said that music education could help children with developmental dyslexia or autism to speak better.

Harvard Medical School associate professor of neurology, Gottfried Schlaug, told the meeting that people who have previously suffered a severe stroke on the left side of their brain causing them to be unable to speak, can sometimes learn to communicate by singing. He said that “music making is a multi-sensory experience, activating links to several parts of the brain,” Schlaug said. He then proceeded to show a video of a patient who could only make sounds be able to say “I am thirsty” by singing the words. Another patient in the video was able to sing “happy birthday” after they were previously unable to speak at all.

Even though these findings are very positive and uplifting news for many, Schlaug warns that this work is specifically for people who’ve had a severe stroke on the left side of their brain and the therapy can be extensive and time consuming.

More good news came from Nina Kraus, the director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University, when she reported that new studies indicate that musical training improves the brain’s ability to do other activities. An example she gave was that musicians are better at finding the voice of a friend in a noisy restaurant, because the  musically trained brain becomes more skillful at detecting patterns in sounds. She also said that children who play an instrument may be able to “better process speech in noisy classrooms and more accurately interpret the nuances of language that are conveyed by subtle changes in the human voice.” She went on to say that when people are first learning to talk and when they speak to babies they frequently use musical patterns in their speech.

“People’s hearing systems are fine-tuned by the experiences they’ve had with sound throughout their lives. Music training is not only beneficial for processing music stimuli. We’ve found that years of music training may also improve how sounds are processed for language and emotion,” Kraus said.

Decrease salt intake to lower your risk for heart disease and strokes

Published on May 25, 2009 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Still shaking salt on your snacks and dinners? Well maybe you should think twice. Health and consumer supporters have seen an increasing eruption of high blood pressure and similar diseases, so they are nudging food makers to make some changes.

The majority of Americans take in more than twice the daily recommended level of sodium, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is impossible to get rid of all salt in the American diet, but if efforts for decreasing salt are victorious, advocates say there would be less hypertension, heart disease and strokes. Heart disease and strokes are the No. 1 and No. 3 killers across the nation.

Many dietary elements affect blood pressure, but salt is the most dominant, says Lawrence J. Appel, who is a professor of medicine, epidemiology and international health at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. He is also a member of the salt panel at the Institute of Medicine, which is a scientific advisory panel. Appel said salt is the reason we have a blood pressure epidemic.  He adds, “No one knows how much salt he consumes or has easy control of it; it’s why the solution is a public health one.”

He said one thing we can do is to not shake salt on our food. The problem though, is that most salt is added during processing or in preparation at restaurants. To change, restaurants would have to throw out recipes they have counted on for years, and then there’s the concern for consumer dissatisfaction with the changes.

A consumer group, The Center for Science in the Public Interest, that sued in 2005 to eliminate salt from the Food and Drug Administration’s safe food list, says restaurants and process foods are responsible for more than three-fourths of the salt that people eat.

Michael F. Jacobson, the Center Executive Director, said that regulation is a must, because, unlike fattening foods, the results of consuming too much salt are not as obvious.

Action is being taken by the Grocery Manufacturing Association for decreasing salt in our foods. It will be a slow process because Americans are so used to the taste of salt. Salt is also used in production and preservation.

The good news is that lower-sodium options are increasing, slowly but surely.

Combo pill shows promise to prevent heart disease and stroke

Published on April 8, 2009 in Health and Wellness. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

There may soon be an affordable and easy way to stave off heart disease and strokes. One pill, taken daily, that blends aspirin and four blood pressure and cholesterol medicines, has passed its first substantial test.

This innovative “polypill” was found to be as beneficial as all of the elements taken separately, with no increase in side effects. According to the study, a person’s risk for heart disease and stroke can be reduced by half, by consistently taking it.

The Polycap, an exploratory combo by Cadila Pharmaceuticals of Ahmedabad, India, was tested in the study. It has small doses of three blood pressure medicines (atenolol, ramipril and the “water pill” thiazide). It also has the generic version of the cholesterol-lowering statin drug Zocor and a 100 milligram baby aspirin.

In the study, there were about 2,000 people at 50 centers in India. The average age was 54 and they each person at least one risk factor for heart disease, such as high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes or smoking. Four hundred were given the polypill. The rest were put in eight groups of 200. They were given separate components of the pill. The treatment took place over 12 weeks.

The polypill reduced systolic blood pressure (the number on top) by more than seven units and diastolic (the bottom number) was reduced by almost six, when compared with groups who received no blood pressure medications.

Bad cholesterol or LDL, decreased by 23 percent on the polypill against 28 percent in those taking the statin drug separately. Triglycerides came down by 10 percent on the combo pill versus 20 percent with the individual statin use. Good cholesterol, or HDL, was not affected by either pill. Anti-clotting effects were the same as with aspirin by itself and side effect rates were also the same for the polypill as they were for the five separate medicines.

The maker of Polycap sponsored the study. There is currently not an available price for the polypill, but generic ingredients cost around $17 a month.

A larger study is still needed to find out whether the polypill does reduce heart attacks and strokes. Also, the Food and Drug Administration will need to approve the polypill.