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European researchers say that vitamin C may play a key role in preventing strokes. In a recent Finnish study, middle-aged men who had relatively low blood levels of the antioxidant had a twofold higher risk of stroke than men with the highest blood levels of the vitamin.
Dr. Sudhir Kurl and his team at the University of Kuopio measured the vitamin C blood levels of 2,419 men between 42 and 60 years old. They then followed the men for ten years and recorded how many experienced a stroke.
Data published in the June issue of Stroke show that 120 study participants suffered a stroke. Men with the lowest levels of vitamin C in their blood (the daily equivalent of about half a glass of orange juice) were 2.4 times as likely to experience stroke as those with a high vitamin C intake (equal to about two full glasses per day). Men with low "C" levels who also had hypertension or were overweight were almost three times as likely to have a stroke as those with a high vitamin C intake who did not suffer from either condition.
The vitamin might reduce stroke risk "by strengthening the artery walls, and by preventing the undesired adhesion of white blood cells at the site of the damaged arteries," said Dr. Kurl.
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