Could taking Vitamin B Supplements Reduce your Stroke Risk?

A new study suggests that taking vitamin B supplements may help reduce your risk of stroke.

According to researchers at Zhengzhou University in China, they reviewed 14 clinical trials to find that Vitamin B lowers the risk of stroke overall by seven percent.

"Previous studies have conflicting findings regarding the use of vitamin B supplements and stroke or heart attack," lead study author Xu Yuming, said, via CBS News. "Some studies have even suggested that the supplements may increase the risk of these events."

Web MD notes that vitamin B-12 has been used as part of the treatment for many illness and/or medical conditions, including fatigue, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, breast cancer, high cholesterol and sickle cell disease. Yet previous findings showing the benefits of the vitamin have been rather inconclusive, up until now.

The studies compared B vitamin use with a placebo or very lose dose of the compound in 54,913 participants who were followed over a six month period, during which time, 2,471 had strokes, according to background information from the study.

All of the studies showed some type of benefit for taking vitamin B.

Yet Yuming notes how previous findings have shown different results in the past. "Previous studies have conflicting findings regarding the use of vitamin B supplements and stroke or heart attack," Yuming, said. "Some studies have even suggested that the supplements may increase the risk of these events."

He concludes with the following: "Based on our results, the ability of vitamin B to reduce stroke risk may be influenced by a number of other factors such as the body's absorption rate, the amount of folic acid or vitamin B12 concentration in the blood, and whether a person has kidney disease or high blood pressure," Yuming said. "Before you begin taking any supplements, you should always talk to your doctor."

What do you think?

More information regarding the study can be found via the online issue of Neurology.