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Magnesium Associated With Lower Stroke Risk
in Male Smokers
Newswise — Male smokers who consume more magnesium appear to have
a lower risk for cerebral infarction, a type
of stroke that occurs when blood flow to the
brain is blocked, according to a report in
the March 10 issue of Archives of Internal
Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Recent studies indicate that changes in diet may help prevent
stroke, according to background information
in the article.
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a risk factor for
stroke; therefore, dietary measures that
reduce blood pressure may in turn affect
stroke risk.
Consuming more magnesium, calcium and potassium has been
associated with lower blood pressure in
previous studies, while sodium has been
positively associated with hypertension.
Susanna C. Larsson, Ph.D., of the Karolinska Institutet,
Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues analyzed
the diets of 26,556 Finnish male smokers age
50 to 69 years who had not previously had
strokes.
In addition to the types of food they ate, the men reported other
characteristics including medical, smoking
and physical activity histories. Their
height, weight and blood pressure were
recorded, and a blood sample was taken.
During an average of 13.6 years of follow-up, 2,702 of the men
had cerebral infarctions; 383 had
intracerebral hemorrhages, which involve
bleeding into the brain tissue; 196 had
subarachnoid hemorrhages, or bleeding
between the brain and the thin tissues that
cover it; and 84 had unspecified types of
strokes.
After adjusting for age and cardiovascular risk factors, such as
diabetes and cholesterol level, men who
consumed the most magnesium (an average of
589 milligrams per day) had a 15 percent
lower risk for cerebral infarction than
those who consumed the least (an average of
373 milligrams per day).
The association was stronger in men younger than 60 years.
Magnesium intake was not associated with a
lower risk of intracerebral or subarachnoid
hemorrhage, and calcium, potassium and
sodium intake were not associated with risk
for any type of stroke.
“An inverse association between magnesium intake and cerebral
infarction is biologically plausible,” the
authors write.
"In addition to lowering blood pressure, magnesium may influence
cholesterol concentrations or the body’s use
of insulin to turn glucose into energy.
Either of these mechanisms would affect the
risk for cerebral infarction but not
hemorrhage.
The results “suggest that a high consumption of magnesium-rich
foods, such as whole-grain cereals, may play
a role in the prevention of cerebral
infarction,” they write. “Whether magnesium
supplementation lowers the risk of cerebral
infarction needs to be assessed in large,
long-term randomized trials.”
Editor’s Note: The ATBC Study was supported by Public Health
Service contracts from the National Cancer
Institute. Dr. Larsson’s postdoctoral
research at the National Public Health
Institute was supported by a grant from the
Swedish Council for Working Life and Social
Research. Please see the article for
additional information, including other
authors, author contributions and
affiliations, financial disclosures, funding
and support, etc.
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