A diet rich in tomatoes, such as a Mediterranean diet, could lower your stroke risk according to new research. A study published in Neurology shows that men who had the highest blood levels of lycopene—an antioxidant found in tomatoes had 55% fewer strokes than men who had the lowest blood level of lycopene.

According to the USDA’s national nutrient database, Lycopene is found in the highest concentrations in cooked tomatoes (e.g., paste, puree and sauce) compared to raw tomatoes.
The study’s goal was to see how other substances such as retinol, or vitamin A, and alpha-tocopherol, a type of vitamin E, impacted stroke rates. No association with the levels of vitamin A or E was evident. Instead, men who had the highest level of lycopene in their bodies were 55% less likely to have a stroke than men with the lowest level and 59% less likely to have a type of stroke caused by a blood clot (i.e., an ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke.)

A cup of ready-to-serve marina sauce has more than 31,000 micrograms of lycopene while the average raw tomato has about 3,165 micrograms, according to USDA. A slice of fast food pizza has 2,074 micrograms of lycopene. A tablespoon of catsup has 2,146 micrograms of lycopene.

In addition to red tomatoes (3,165 micrograms/each), Lycopene is also found in watermelon (6,889 micrograms/cup), grapefruit (1,745 micrograms/ 1/2 any color ), papaya (2,559 micrograms / cup) and mango (5 micrograms/cup).

Earlier studies suggest lycopene can cut the risk of prostate and other cancers. Even though lycopene reduces inflammation and prevents blood clots from forming, there currently are no current government recommendations for lycopene consumption.

A study of older women taking low doses to prevent heart disease found it also helped preserve their memory. Taking a low dose of aspirin may help keep the brain young.

Millions of Britons take aspirin on doctor’s orders to prevent heart problems.
Other research suggests it may cut the risk of cancer.
There have been conflicting results from studies about whether long-term use of Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin protects against declining brain power and dementia.

Research published in the online journal BMJ Open found regular low-dose aspirin did slow cognitive decline in a five-year study involving 681 women aged 70 to 92 at high risk of heart disease and stroke.

Decline in brain power was found to be considerably less among those who took aspirin every day over the entire period. It is thought the same effect would be found in men.

All the elderly women were put through tests to measure their physical health and intellectual capacity, including verbal fluency and memory speed, and dementia.

A group of 129 women were taking low dose aspirin (75 to 160 mg) every day to ward off a heart attack or stroke when the study started. A additional 94 were taking various other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Their health was tracked over five years, at the end of which the intellectual capacity of 489 women was assessed again.

The mini-mental state examination (MMSE) – a common test for mental vitality – score fell across the whole group at the end of the five years, but this decline was considerably less in the 66 women who had taken aspirin every day over the entire period. Groups divided into those who had taken aspirin for the entire five years (66); those who had stopped taking it by 2005-6 (18); those who were taking it by 2005-6 (67); and those who hadn’t taken the drug at any point (338).

Compared with women who had not taken aspirin at all, those who had done so for all five years, increased their MMSE score, while those who had taken aspirin at some point, registered only insignificant falls in MMSE score. There were no differences, however, in the rate at which the women developed dementia.

Researchers suggest aspirin’s protective effect may be due to its anti-clotting action helping to improve blood flow to the brain. The findings indicate that aspirin may protect the brain, at least in women at high risk of a heart attack or stroke.

While long-term aspirin use does have a number of potentially serious side-effects for some, it should only be taken for long periods on doctor’s orders.

It is well known that 30 minutes of exercise – at least three times a week – is good for both brain and cardiovascular health. Now you can double the benefit of being physically active… by eating dark chocolate!

Results of research conducted at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm shows that for every extra 50 gms of chocolate consumed per week (e.g., ¼ cup of chocolate chips), there was a fall in stroke risk of about 14%.

The study, published in Neurology, included 37,103 Swedish men ages 49 to 75. After ten years, researchers found the highest chocolate consumers had a reduced risk of stroke – 12 fewer strokes per 100,000 person-years – compared to non-chocolate eaters. A broader research review of five different studies included 4,260 stroke cases that showed the risk of stroke for individuals in the highest category of chocolate consumption was only 19 percent compared to those not eating chocolate.

Researchers believe the health effects of chocolate may be related to flavonols, antioxidants found in cocoa, which appear to be protective against cardiovascular disease through anti-oxidant, anti-clotting and anti-inflammatory properties. Flavonols, a large family of polyphenolic compounds synthesized by fruits and vegetables – such as cocoa, red grapes, red wine, yellow onions, scallions, kale, broccoli, apples, berries and green and white teas – have been shown in studies to reduce blood pressure and may even help patients who have mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Chocolate, rich in flavonols, was recently given a seal of approval by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European equivalent of the FDA. If accepted by the EU, chocolates and cocoas with high amounts of flavonols will be allowed to carry positive health claims on their packaging.

Oh, you might like to know that UC, San Diego researchers recently reported findings that appear to suggest regular chocolate eaters tend to be thinner!

Scientists reported in the journal Nature, discovery of a rare gene coding genetic mutation, A673T, that may protect against Alzheimer’s disease (AD). US and European scientists claim that this mutation protects against both Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline in older people who are without AD.

While most people not having Alzheimer’s don’t have the mutation, its function supports the theory that AD is caused by the accumulation of beta amyloid protein in the brain. This discovery may hold promise for a possible treatment for this most common of the dementias affecting over 5 % of western world populations over age 60, of which about 2/3 is due to Alzheimer’s.

This gene mutation makes less harmful a protein long believed to be involved in AD. The newly identified variant affects a gene called amyloid precursor protein (APP), which encodes for the precursor protein that gets chopped up by enzymes and forms beta amyloid. Based on cell culture studies, the mutation seems to hinder the ability of one of the enzymes to do its job, therefore resulting in a 40% reduction in amyloid production, thereby lowering risk of AD.

In the study of the genetic data of 1795 Icelanders, people with this rare mutation demonstrated very strong protection against AD. People who lived to age 85 or older without developing Alzheimer’s were more than five times more likely to have the protective gene mutation than those who developed the disease — translating to a 7.5 times lower risk of Alzheimer’s attributable to the variant.

The gene also appeared to protect against a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s, the presence of two copies of another gene known as ApoE4. At least 90% of people with two copies of this gene develop Alzheimer’s by age 80, but among the 25 people in the study who had two copies of ApoE4 and the new protective variant, none had Alzheimer’s. Further, the presence of the new gene variant seemed to protect against memory loss and cognitive decline even in people who didn’t have Alzheimer’s. When the researchers looked at elderly people with normal brain function, they found that those with the new APP gene mutation did better on cognitive tests than those without.

There has been serious research in the past two decades into manipulating APP to treat Alzheimer’s – an incurable and progressive disease characterized by memory loss and dementia.

This important discovery also offers a potential new target for Alzheimer’s drugs and lends hope that several of the amyloid-targeting drugs currently in development may eventually prevent or slow the disease, offering hope for the 5.4 million Americans currently affected, projected to grow to 14 million by 2050.