Vitamin Protection from Stroke Damage?

Surely, by now, people are well-aware that when it comes to surviving stroke, time is of the essence. The sooner patients get treated, the more likely their brains will be spared significant damage. Is it worth considering, then, if you’re at high risk for stroke, that taking a supplement might offer your brain protection ahead of time? According to the results of a new study from The Ohio State University in Columbus, such a day may be close at hand.Not Just Any Vitamin EThe study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, looked into whether taking a natural form of vitamin E called tocotrienols (more on that in a minute) might prepare the brain to react better after an ischemic stroke (a stroke caused by a blood clot). Most strokes (87%) are ischemic. The report, an animal study, used dogs because their brains more closely resemble those of humans than do those of commonly studied animals, such as mice and rats. For 10 weeks, researchers gave one group of dogs 200 mg a day of tocotrienols and the other group a placebo. Then, while the animals were under anesthesia, they induced strokes in both groups by blocking the middle cerebral artery in their brains for one hour. Next, researchers conducted imaging studies of the animals’ brains both one hour after and 24 hours after the induced strokes to learn what changes had taken place. What they discovered...More blood flow. In the vitamin E group, minor blood vessels (collateral vessels) that are a normal part of the brain’s circulatory system became larger in the area of the blockage, enabling more blood flow to continue in that area and protect the brain. This did not happen to the same extent in the control group.Less tissue damage. Twenty-four hours after the strokes, brain lesions that indicate tissue damage were 80% smaller in the vitamin E group compared with those in the placebo group.Less nerve damage. In the vitamin E group after 24 hours, the brain’s internal communication network -- a crisscrossing of nerves -- remained relatively intact at the location of the stroke... while in the placebo group, the network showed major disruptions. Waking Up Sleeping Arteries The senior author of the study, Chandan K. Sen, PhD, professor in the department of surgery, has been researching tocotrienol vitamin E and its effect on the brain for more than a decade. He says that the brain contains collateral vessels that normally remain dormant. When a person has a stroke, those collateral vessels enlarge and join together to improve blood flow in the affected part of the brain. Researchers found that the tocotrienol vitamin E essentially helped "wake up" these previously inactive arteries more effectively at the time of the trauma to the brain. Dr. Sen and his group are now preparing a clinical trial using tocotrienol vitamin E in a group of people who are at an increased risk for stroke. The participants in this trial will take 400 mg daily of tocotrienol E to see if the vitamin helps prevent stroke or, in cases when stroke occurs, if it helps reduce damage to the brain, as it did with the dogs. When asked for a recommendation for readers of Daily Health News, Dr. Sen said that he would like to wait for the outcomes of the clinical trial. But people at a high risk for stroke may want to talk to their doctors about taking natural Vitamin E as we wait for the clinical trial to be completed. Read the LabelThere are two categories of natural vitamin E -- tocotrienols (which were used in the study) and tocopherols. Both types include four subtypes called alpha, beta, delta and gamma. In his research, Dr. Sen uses a mix of natural vitamin E that’s rich in alpha-tocotrienol. If your doctor advises you to start taking natural vitamin E to help prevent stroke, Dr. Sen says to look for a supplement in a health-food store or online that contains a high percentage of alpha-tocotrienol. You may notice that many vitamin E supplements contain some tocopherols, as well. This is fine, so long as the tocopherol is natural and not synthetic. Check the label, and if it includes the words synthetic alpha tocopherol -- or "dl" instead of "d," the natural form -- return the bottle to the shelf and look for all-natural E. Source: Chandan K. Sen, PhD, professor in the department of surgery and associate dean, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus.