Dietary supplements may significantly improve outcome after a stroke
Bouncing Back
Let’s say you’re a serious medical mainstreamer. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)? Obviously a huge scam. So when you get married, would you actually tell your wife to forget about taking folic acid supplements before becoming pregnant? After all, that whole thing about preventing neural tube birth defects has got to be just another CAM ripoff, right?
That’s a situation I pondered in yesterday’s e-Alert “That’s Entertainment!” (1/20/09). And today I’m wondering much the same thing. Let’s say a serious medical mainstreamer’s mother had a stroke. Would he simply dismiss evidence that certain supplements might significantly improve her recovery?
Hard to imagine, isn’t it?
Going home
Want to put supplements to the test? Easy. Take a group of undernourished people, give half a moderate supplement regimen and give half a more intensive regimen and then measure their motor function and cognitive skills.
That was the basic design of a study mounted by researchers at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital of Cornell University.
The Burke team recruited more than 100 stroke victims who were undernourished and had lost at least 2.5 percent of their body weight. Undernourishment is typical in patients whose stroke is severe enough to require inpatient rehabilitation.
Patients were divided into two groups to receive one of two regimens:
- Standard regimen included a multivitamin with minerals, and a liquid supplement that contained 127 calories, 5 grams of protein, and 36 mg of vitamin C (taken every eight hours)
- Intensive regimen included a multivitamin with minerals, and a liquid supplement that contained 240 calories, 11 grams of protein, and 90 mg of vitamin C (taken every eight hours)
Results showed that patients given the intensive regimen significantly improved motor function compared to subjects given the standard regimen. There was no change in cognitive measures in either group, but a much higher rate of patients in the intensive group returned home after rehabilitation, rather than relocating to a nursing facility.
Send in the Bs
Hopefully, that multivitamin given in the Burke study included a wide spectrum of B vitamins.
In the e-Alert “Second Wind” (11/29/05), I told you about the Vitamin Intervention for Stroke Prevention trial (VISP) in which high doses of vitamins B6, B12, and folic acid were given to more then 3,600 patients who had experienced non-disabling strokes.
Researchers found that subjects who had the highest intake of the three B vitamins reduced their risk of ischemic stroke and coronary disease by more than 20 percent. The worst outcomes were seen in subjects who had the lowest intake of vitamin B12. Unfortunately, as we age, we’re generally more likely to develop B12 deficiency because older people produce less of a protein known as intrinsic factor, which is essential for proper B12 absorption.
I also checked in with HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., to see what nutritional recommendations he might offer for stroke victims.
Dr. Spreen: “Assuming it’s an embolic stroke, not hemorrhagic (from a burst blood vessel), I’d go heavy on the fish oil, along with high-dose nattokinase. Then, of course, you’d have to add mixed tocopherol E to the fish oil to protect against free radical formation. For stroke, I’d add something like 1,200 iu/day. I’d also add some selenium, since it augments vitamin E in any of its uses. Plus, of course, they’d need IV chelation.”
Dr. Spreen describes the Burke “intensive regimen” vitamin C dose (270 mg per day) as “not much, but starting to get into a range of doing something.” You can read more about the role vitamin C may play in stroke prevention in the e-Alert “Stroke Risk Yardstick” (1/31/08).
Source:
“Intensive Nutritional Supplements Can Improve Outcomes in Stroke Rehabilitation” Neurology, Vol. 71, No. 23, 12/2/08, neurology.org
