Eating citrus foods can help ward off stroke risk

A new study has revealed that eating citrus foods that contain vitamin C may reduce your risk of the most common type of hemorrhagic stroke.

Vitamin C is found in fruits and vegetables such as oranges, papaya, peppers, broccoli and strawberries.

The study involved 65 people who had experienced an intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke, or a blood vessel rupture inside the brain. They were compared to 65 healthy people.

Participants were tested for the levels of vitamin C in their blood. Forty-one percent of cases had normal levels of vitamin C, 45 percent showed depleted levels of vitamin C and 14 percent were considered deficient of the vitamin.

"Our results show that vitamin C deficiency should be considered a risk factor for this severe type of stroke, as were high blood pressure, drinking alcohol and being overweight in our study," study author Stephane Vannier, MD, with Pontchaillou University Hospital in Rennes, France, said.

Vannier adds that vitamin C appears to have other benefits like creating collagen, a protein found in bones, skin and tissues.

The study will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.