The Silent Stroke Epidemic Of all the diseases that affect aging humans, stroke is the most feared. Most people believe a stroke can either kill suddenly or induce a state of paralysis requiring institutional care. The good news is that other presentations made at this same meeting show that the program Life Extension members follow to stay healthy may dramatically reduce their risk of ever having a stroke. There were four papers presented at this meeting that correlate increasing levels of homocysteine with stroke risk. The use of extra vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid is one way of lowering homocysteine levels.
Stroke is the third leading cause of death in developed countries.
The majority of strokes occur when a blood clot blocks the flow of oxygenated blood to a portion of the brain. In the case of ischemic stroke, abnormal blood clotting blocks large or small arteries in the brain, cutting off blood flow. Thrombotic stroke is caused as the result of unhealthy blood vessels becoming clogged with a buildup of fatty deposits, calcium or blood clotting factors such as fibrinogen, homocysteine and LDL-cholesterol. We generally refer to this as atherosclerosis disease. More recent information indicates that a chronic inflammatory process is also a cause of the arterial damage that leads to stroke.