Eating Citrus Fruits Can Reduce Your Stroke Risk

Stroke can take your entire life in an instant, either by leaving you with paralysis, leaving you comatose or leaving you dead. This is why various preventive measures have been discovered and developed to help eliminate your chances of acquiring stroke. A new study shows that eating foods rich in vitamin C can decrease your chances of acquiring stroke.

Stroke

Stroke happens when the brain and its cells are deprived of oxygen. This can either be due to an obstruction in the blood vessels that bring about blood to the other parts of the brain or the rupture of arteries that are located in the brain. As a result of this, the person lose his or her ability to speak, one side of the body may be paralyzed or there may be memory problems.

There are two main types of stroke: ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. Ischemic stroke is the most common stroke and happens when a blood clot or thrombus lodges into the blood vessels that supply the brain, shutting off its blood supply. An embolus is a floating clot that can wander into the bloodstream and go to the brain to cut off its blood supply. On the other hand, a hemorrhagic stroke is a type of stroke that occurs when a blood vessel supplying the brain ruptures and blood fills the space between the brain and the skull. This is termed as subarachnoic hemorrhage. In other cases, blood also extravasates into the surrounding tissue, a condition known as cerebral hemorrhage. These two types of stroke both create a lack of blood flow to the brain and a rise in pressure in the brain.

There are various risk factors for stroke. Those who are likely to have stroke have/are the following: older age, male sex, a family history of stroke, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, cigarette smoking, diabetes, obesity or being overweight, a previous stroke or transient ischemic attack, high levels of homocysteine and being divorced. Other risk factors include the heavy use of alcohol and depression.

If you are at risk for stroke, you should know its warning signs and symptoms so that you can get help easily. Common symptoms of stroke include trouble walking, loss of balance and coordination, dizziness, blurred vision and other vision problems, sudden and severe headache and confusion. However small strokes are termed as silent strokes and may not give out signs and symptoms at all. A transient ischemic attack may happen in the form of signs and symptoms of stroke that last for only minutes or hours. TIAs are usually caused by a temporary interruption on the brain however they usually do not cause permanent damage.

Stroke is considered a medical emergency. Anyone who shows signs and symptoms of stroke must be taken to the hospital immediately and proper management should be done. Several diagnostic methods for stroke include physical assessment, ultrasound, arteriography, computerized tomography scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), CT and MRI with angiography, echocardiography and eye-movement analyzer.

Stroke can lead to debilitation and death. This is why it should be prevented as soon as possible, especially among patients at high risk for this disorder.

Stroke and Vitamin C

A recent study has shown that eating foods rich in vitamin C may reduce your risk for hemorrhagic stroke. In this study done by researchers from Pontchaillou University Hospital in Rennes, France, 65 people who had intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke were compared to 65 healthy people. All these people were tested for vitamin C levels in their blood. The results showed that people who had stroke had depleted Vitamin C levels. Thus intake of vitamin C should be encouraged by eating foods rich in this vitamin such as citrus fruits.

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