The Big Squeeze
Like a hammer pounding the skull or a vise clamped to the cranium, a migraine headache can be among the most excruciating and debilitating pains a person can experience. If you suffer from this malady, here are some ways to minimize your misery.

By Susan Weiner, Energy Times

Cyndy Roseman-Puccio didn’t know what a migraine was until she turned 50. Preparing for a cross-country trip to the east coast from her home in Half Moon Bay, California, Roseman-Puccio awoke one morning with a disquieting headache. Thinking it would quickly subside, she and her husband headed to a local restaurant for breakfast, where Roseman-Puccio spent the entire meal throwing up in the restroom. “It was horrible and I was so nauseous,” she recalls. “It felt like a vise was clamped to the sides of my head and someone was tightening it.” From that point on, migraines became a routine part of her life.

Roseman-Puccio later learned that her migraines were brought on by menopause and foods that had abruptly become triggers for the intense head pain. “All of a sudden, chocolate and red wine became my worst enemies,” she says before admitting she still indulges in the occasional fudgey treat. “Hey, I’m not going to stop living because of migraines.”

For more than 29.5 million Americans—mostly women—migraine headaches range from painful to downright debilitating. Talk to anyone who suffers from migraines and they describe dealing with the pounding in their heads with words like “excruciating,” “incapacitating” and “unbearable.” Many spend long days in bed and are forced to miss work; the World Health Organization cites migraines as among the most debilitating of ills, costing employers nearly $13 billion a year in lost productivity and another $1 billion in medical care. Many migraine sufferers are also forced to forgo activities and lose time with family and friends. Others are trapped into devouring a never-ending succession of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, which may mask the pain but never get to the root of the cause.

Migraine Madness

If you’ve never experienced a migraine, consider yourself very lucky. The word “migraine” comes from the Greek hemikranion, or pain affecting one side of the head. That definition is mild compared to the reality. Imagine a fierce throbbing in your head that may last up to 72 hours, accompanied by nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light and sound. Any sort of exertion—even climbing stairs—aggravates the pain. Additional symptoms can include blurred vision, irritability, depression, abdominal cramps, diarrhea and the inability to concentrate. Some people will complain that their hair “hurts” and the pain may become so intense that even wearing glasses or jewelry becomes unbearable.

Migraines can afflict anyone at any age. But women, due to fluctuations in estrogen levels, are three times more likely to suffer from them than men. Adding insult to malady, the National Migraine Association reports that nearly 60% of women with migraines have never been properly diagnosed.

Where do migraines come from? Current theory suggests that they are triggered from within the brain itself, the pain arising from an interaction between the trigeminal nerve, the one that controls sensation in the face, and blood vessels in the coverings of the brain. While there is currently no definitive test to confirm the diagnosis of migraine, establishing a record of symptoms, other headache characteristics and family history helps to determine if the headaches are, indeed, migraines.

Every sufferer, particularly those uninterested in or unresponsive to powerful prescription medications, poses the same question: Is there a way to head off migraines? Since the symptoms occur as a result of changes in the diameter of blood vessels in the brain, natural remedies are geared toward avoiding common triggers, including certain foods, fragrances and nicotine. Additional migraine catalysts—such as excessive stress, insomnia, nutritional deficiencies and misalignments of the spine and neck—can be effectively treated through alternative techniques. One of the most common reasons people seek remedies such as chiropractic, acupuncture and supplemental therapies is to escape the agony of chronic head pain. These treatments are known to significantly reduce the frequency, duration and severity of migraine symptoms.

Manipulating Migraines

When a patient who is plagued by migraines consults with Michael Vorozilchak, DC, a chiropractor in Montour Falls, New York, he offers them a headache diary, a booklet where patients maintain a record of events (noting foods, moods and activities) and actions preceding each migraine. Later, when the diary is reviewed, common triggers are often revealed.

“There are so many different variables that can lead to a migraine that to think you can take a pill to address the problem makes no sense,” says Vorozilchak. “As with any ailment, the key to correcting migraines is correcting the underlying cause.” In addition to environmental triggers, a common cause may be postural stresses, so every patient receives X-rays and a thorough exam, in addition to a detailed investigation into triggers.

Chiropractic treatment, says Vorozilchak, has been healing all kinds of headaches for years, and he believes that chiropractic manipulation should be considered a logical starting point for anyone looking to escape the pain of migraines. “The basis of all chiropractic intervention is to remove the cause,” he says. “Evidence suggests that postural stress and loss of the natural curve in the neck are among the strongest correlates to all headaches, including migraines.”

Some studies confirm that chiropractic care can manage migraine ills. The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics reported that a study of 177 volunteers experiencing migraines for an average of 18 years were relieved of both migraine and neck pain. And, in just 13 weeks, chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy (CSMT) on migraine sufferers led to a marked improvement in symptoms, according to the Australasia Chiro and Osteo Journal. Nine additional studies concluded that spinal manipulation is comparable to medications in preventing both migraine and tension headaches.

Soothing Supplements

A simple approach to healing migraine misery may come from essential minerals, vitamins and herbs readily found on health food store shelves. Liz Spree, Wellness Department Assistant at GreenStar Cooperative Market in Ithaca, New York, has studied herbs at the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine, and she finds that herbal tinctures such as feverfew, skullcap, valerian, hops and passionflower taken at the first sign of a migraine can work wonders: “I feel that the body utilizes herbal tinctures more quickly and effectively.”

Spree says that the majority of GreenStar’s customers with migraines are older women and she understands their reticence at taking prescription drugs. “Many have become disenchanted with conventional medicine because of the adverse side effects,” she says. “Who can blame them? What’s the point of taking a pill that makes your headache go away but makes you dizzy and nauseous?”

Magnesium, vital to vigorous vascular health, may be just as effective as prescription drugs at treating migraines—minus the side effects. Since evidence suggests that up to 50% of migraine sufferers have lowered levels of ionized magnesium, logic dictates that this essential mineral should ward off migraines. In myriad studies, an infusion of magnesium results in a rapid and sustained relief of symptoms, reports Clinical Neuroscience. Plagued by severe migraine headaches for years until encountering magnesium, Jay S. Cohen, MD, author of The Magnesium Solution for Migraine Headaches (Square One), says the key is finding a magnesium supplement that agrees with your stomach. If yours is sensitive, go with liquid magnesium with added amino acids that can be better absorbed into the body.

Coenzyme Q10, an antioxidant made by the body and used by cells to make energy, can also help reduce the frequency of attacks. CoQ10 may boost brain cell energy, thus reducing the incidence of migraines. Further studies show that vitamin B2 and herbs like feverfew and butterbur may also prevent migraines or reduce their severity. Additional supplements, including 5-HTP, SAMe and glucosamine, may also help to reduce the frequency of migraine headaches and research is ongoing into their effectiveness.

Needle Relief

Many folks find acupuncture something of a mystery, yet its premise is actually quite simple: Ailments such as migraines are caused by an imbalance in the body’s flow of energy. By stimulating acupuncture points with very thin, disposable needles, the body prompts the nervous system to release endorphins and other natural chemicals that relieve pain. When it comes to migraines, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) maintains that acupuncture can unblock these meridians to relieve symptoms.

“In the treatment of migraine, not only can acupuncture substantially reduce the acute attack, but it can also improve overall health and well-being, including relief of such complaints as frustration, anxiety, fatigue, irritability and insomnia,” says Dr. Lin Zhou, doctor of TCM, licensed acupuncturist and women’s health specialist at Acupuncture and Alternative Medicine of Dallas in Richardson, Texas. “Acupuncture needles stimulate the autonomic nervous system to increase the production of beta-endorphin and natural steroids.”

Acupuncture has been studied as a treatment for migraines for over 20 years, and the National Institutes of Health currently recommends it as a headache treatment. In a study published in the British Medical Journal, those receiving traditional acupuncture saw their headache rates drop by almost half. Among her migraine patients, most of them women, Zhou has witnessed a dramatic decrease or elimination in both migraine frequency and use of medication. In addition to targeting migraine pain, her goal is to treat the person as a whole, encompassing lifestyle and dietary changes: “In my practice, most migraine sufferers are women. Stress, tension, lack of sleep, physical and emotional exhaustion, red wine, caffeine and hormonal imbalance are the most common triggers of migraines.”

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all panacea that conquers migraines. But it is likely that treatments such as dietary supplements, acupuncture and chiropractic can help take the edge off of the ache. The key is to keep trying until you find the right combination that works for you. Don’t let migraine pain rule your life.

Colon Cancer: Equal Opportunity Threat
The third leading cancer in the US now strikes more women than men. Find out  how awareness and lifestyle choices can keep this low profile predator at bay.

By Susan Weiner, Energy Times

Darlene Kipling felt like she’d been sideswiped by a city bus when her doctor announced that she had colon cancer. What made the diagnosis even more alarming is that Kipling, a registered nurse, tends to cancer patients for a living. “I really didn’t expect it to be colon cancer,” she says. “My symptoms were so minor. Probably if I had not been an oncology nurse, I would not have realized I had a problem until much later.”

The minor symptom that prompted Kipling, then 52, to see her physician would easily have been overlooked by most of us: a tiny speck of burgundy in her stool. She spotted it once, then again three weeks later. At the urging of her physician, Kipling underwent a colonoscopy (the most comprehensive test for colon cancer), where he discovered and removed three polyps, growths that project from the lining of the intestine or rectum.

Polyps, which grow on a stalk and may appear like a mushroom or a cherry on a stem, can turn into cancer with time. A biopsy of Kipling’s polyps determined that two of the mushroom-like growths were, indeed, cancerous.

Kipling was fortunate: The disease was early-stage. Colon cancer caught early can often be cured simply by removing the offending growths, but her doctor opted for a bowel resection, surgery that entails removing portions of the diseased bowel and reattaching the remainder to create a functioning colon. The surgery is significant and not without risks, including infection, abscess, fistula, obstruction and lifetime use of a colostomy bag. Fortunately, she came through it without a hitch.

Had Kipling not been a self-described “stool watcher,” she never would have detected what turned out to be a life-saving symptom. If she’d missed the sign, or waited, the symptoms would have progressed and could have included severe abdominal pain, constipation, bleeding and black stools. Early-stage colorectal cancer—which includes cancers of the colon, rectum, appendix and anus—is highly treatable, with a five-year survival rate of 90%, yet only 39% of all cases are diagnosed at this highly curable stage, mostly due to low rates of screening.

“The bottom line for me is that I had the earliest possible form of colon cancer,” says an indebted Kipling, who presently works for Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Southwestern Regional Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “The lesson is that people need to check their stool.”

A Warning for Women

Once considered a man’s disease, colon cancer now afflicts more women than men. Colon cancer is the third leading cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among both sexes in the US, but significantly more women than men are now diagnosed with the malady. The American Cancer Society estimates that 57,460 women will learn that they have colon cancer in 2006, compared to 49,220 new cases among men. Yet the disease continues to be perceived as more prevalent among men.

“It might be a bias in the medical community that we don’t think of women as having colon cancer as much as men,” says Eliot Edwards, ND, who treats patients at Complementary Medicine and Healing Arts in Vestal, New York and Oneonta, New York. “In general, over the years there’s been an inclination in medical research towards looking at men more than women in all areas.”

Colorectal cancers develop slowly over years and most begin as polyps, common in nearly half of all adults. Not all polyps are cancerous, but those known as adenomas, which constitute nearly three-fourths of all polyps, have the potential to turn malignant. Although the causes of polyps are not completely understood, these protruding lumps, which may look the same as normal colon tissue or ulcerate and bleed, are widespread in women and men who live in industrialized countries, suggesting that dietary and environmental factors—such as cigarette smoking, obesity and a low-fiber diet high in red meat and fat—are vital to their development. Over time, polyps are more likely to develop into cancer, with more than 90% of cases diagnosed in individuals older than 50.

Just like the plumbing in your house, avoiding a backup in your internal plumbing is crucial to maintaining a healthy colon and preventing the growth of polyps, explains Edwards. “If a person is constipated, metabolic waste is sitting in the colon for an extended period of time. By correcting constipation, it helps to decrease the tendency to develop polyps.”

In Edward’s experience, constipation is far more frequent among women, which may offer insight into rising rates of colon cancer among the fairer sex. The doctor urges his patients to adopt a constipation-fighting diet low in meat and dairy and high in fiber: “Fiber helps to increase buteric acid, a byproduct of good intestinal flora, which is shown to decrease the incidence of cancer.”

Although the landmark Nurses’ Health Study did not show a strong direct correlation between fiber intake and incidence of colon cancer, the Harvard School of Public Health, which sponsored the study, still recommends a minimum amount of 20 to 35 grams of dietary fiber per day in the form of fruits, whole grains, salads, vegetables and legumes.

Exercise is another approach to keeping bowels healthy and flowing freely. Numerous studies—including the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study II and the Nurses’ Health Study—found benefits of up to a 30% to 40% reduction of colon cancer risk through carefully measured physical activity. “Exercise has definitely been shown to help in the prevention of colon cancer, as well as decrease constipation,” says Edwards.

Eat Well, Live Well

Simply by carrying excess body weight, your chances of developing colon cancer are greatly increased. “Obesity is an independent risk factor for colon cancer,” says Pankaj Vashi, MD, gastroenterologist and chief of surgery at Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Midwestern Regional Medical Center in Zion, Illinois. “If everything else is equal, your chance of getting colon cancer is significantly higher if you are obese.” The logical way to reduce the risk of developing colon cancer, suggests Vashi, is to initiate a program that incorporates weight loss, dietary changes and exercise.

“In my opinion, the most important thing is diet,” says Vashi, who notes that in India, his native country, colorectal cancers are very rare. “That’s because 90% of the Indian population, even today, is vegetarian.” In some families, genetic factors can predispose members to colon cancer, a syndrome known as familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), but the majority of colorectal cancers are clearly attributed to lifestyle.

Vashi suggests initiating lifestyle changes before polyps ever have a chance to develop. “The same instructions hold true for heart disease and colon cancer,” he says. “A low-fat, high-fiber diet, weight reduction, and obviously avoiding chemical toxins in your body like smoking and alcohol.”

It also makes good sense to add a variety of vitamin and mineral supplements to your daily routine. “These are definitely plus points that have been shown to reduce the incidence of colon cancer,” says Vashi. Helpful ones include selenium and zinc; calcium may decrease the risk of large colon polyps, reports the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Studies have also shown the benefits of antioxidants like vitamins C and E, and beta carotene. “We are more on the go, producing more free radicals [which damage cells and can cause cancer], and we need something to reduce this.” By stabilizing free radicals, antioxidants may prevent damage that they might otherwise cause.

Screening Time

Since colorectal cancer usually causes no symptoms in its early stages, by the time an individual experiences pain or bleeding the disease is often advanced. Given that 75% of colorectal cancers have no risk factors other than age, both the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society recommend that screening for colon cancer should be part of routine care for all adults starting at age 50.

While there are several methods to screen for polyps, including a stool blood test, barium enema x-ray and sigmoidoscopy, they can be limited in their ability to diagnose colorectal cancers. At the same time, checking your stool or looking for other signs is inadequate, as symptoms come and go, or there may be none at all.

Colonoscopy is the most effective examination because it offers direct visualization of the entire colon and allows the doctor to remove polyps for laboratory analysis. Characteristics, number and size of polyps are easily analyzed under a microscope throughout the procedure. The colonoscopy itself is relatively simple; after being given a sedative and pain reliever, the patient lies on his or her side. A flexible colonoscope is gently inserted and advanced. The most difficult part of the exam, say many, is the preparation, which involves fasting and cleansing the bowel. “Ninety-nine percent of my patients would come back and ask me, ‘Are you sure you gave me this procedure?’” says Vashi.

While no one is expected to look forward to a colonoscopy, fear and embarrassment prevent many from pursuing the potentially life-saving exam. Many individuals who should get screened don’t, despite the fact that as many as 60% of deaths from the disease could be prevented if everyone over age 50 were checked once every decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that only 42.5% of US adults aged 50 or older underwent a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy within the previous 10 years. Among African-Americans and Hispanics, screening rates run as low as 28%.

Darlene Kipling, for one, is grateful that she had a colonoscopy. Now cancer-free for 12 years, Kipling has made important dietary changes, including forgoing some favorite foods and cutting back on salt and sugar. “I stopped eating red meat. I had been a very big meat eater and there is a link between red meat eating and colon cancer,” says Kipling. “I was a chronic soda pop drinker, and I immediately stopped and began drinking bottled water.”

Colorectal cancer may not be polite dinnertime conversation, but maybe it should be. More and more patients have been asking doctors for colonoscopy exams, perhaps accounting for an average decline in deaths from colorectal cancers by 1.8% per year since 1990. Still, nearly 60% of all Americans have never had an exam. “Get yourself screened,” urges Vashi. “If that message is spread, then we have done our job.”

Turning Down the Heat
It’s a very scary word. Nearly one million Americans suffer some form of this brain attack each year. The number one culprit? Hypertension, otherwise known as high blood pressure. Learn how you can keep your blood flowing smoothly for years to come.

By Susan Weiner, Energy Times

Joseph Reiss was short and burly, with a full head of white hair and lively brown eyes. Like most street-tough New Yorkers of his generation, he was a self-reliant man with an unpredictable resume who, over the years, supported his family as a bus driver, ice cream shop vendor, gas station owner and barkeep. He smoked cigars, drank whiskey and black coffee, ate steak for breakfast and popped jalapeno peppers into his mouth as snacks, savoring each one like a sugared candy.

One morning, Joe awoke to find that his speech was slurred, his movements awkward. The 68-year-old adamantly refused to see a doctor. Unable to feed himself or tie his shoes, and days after his right arm stopped working, his family—my family—brought him to a hospital. Over the next five months my grandfather deteriorated rapidly; he lost his ability to speak, developed agonizing bedsores and could not recognize some of us. In the end, withered and powerless to put thoughts into words, he died in his hospital bed.

“He was a walking time bomb,” says his daughter Terri. “He had a family history of heart disease, he had a terrible diet of white flour, meat, black coffee and salt, and he never went to a doctor.”

A lifetime of bad habits, a history of heart problems and his refusal to see a physician following not one stroke, but two, considerably lessened Joe’s chances for survival. Most significantly, my grandfather suffered from undiagnosed hypertension, known more commonly as high blood pressure, the single biggest risk factor for stroke.

Out of the Blue

A stroke almost always strikes abruptly and without warning: blurred vision, dizziness, confusion, loss of or trouble understanding speech, or sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arms or legs. Sometimes called a “brain attack,” a stroke is caused by a disruption in the amount of blood in the brain. Too little blood due to a clot or blockage results in an ischemic stroke (80% of all strokes are this type); a hemorrhagic stroke occurs when an artery suddenly ruptures, flooding the brain cavity with blood.

Since blood pressure is determined by the amount of blood your heart pumps and the amount of resistance to blood flow in your arteries, your blood pressure is directly tied to risk of stroke. “High blood pressure is essentially increased pressure on the walls of the blood vessels of the body,” explains J. David Forbes, MD, founder and director of Nashville Integrated Medicine and board-certified founding diplomate of the American Board of Holistic Medicine (ABHM).

Your blood pressure consists of two numbers: The top number indicates systolic pressure, or the amount of pressure your heart generates when pumping blood through your arteries, and the bottom number indicates diastolic pressure, or the amount of pressure in your arteries while your heart is at rest between beats. The consenting viewpoint of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC), a coalition of 46 health care agencies, is that a blood pressure reading of 115/75 mmHg should be the new gold standard. Once you rise above that threshold, risk of stroke increases.

For those with untreated high blood pressure, stroke risk is high: Of the 730,000 Americans who endure a stroke each year, more than half suffer from high blood pressure. Of the estimated 50 million Americans who currently have high blood pressure, 30% don’t even know they have it. Like a ticking bomb, hypertension damages blood vessel walls, promoting the buildup of plaque deposits or the likelihood that a vessel will break due to excess pressure.

Heart Hazard

People of all ages, including children, are affected by high blood pressure so whether you’re 20 or 60, hypertension poses a significant danger. Women are at particular risk: Stroke occurs with roughly equal frequency among both genders, but women are more likely to have a stroke in their 40s or 50s and are more likely to die as a result. In fact, two-thirds of women who die suddenly from cardiovascular disease, including stroke, have no previous recognized symptoms. Many of these women, however, carry excess weight; the American Heart Association (AHA) reports that women inclined to accumulate fat around the middle have almost a fivefold increased risk of fatal cardiovascular events.

Across the board, overweight men and women with high blood pressure have double the risk for fatal stroke than overweight people with normal pressure. “We observed that cardiovascular risk is not clearly increased unless hypertension is present in overweight and obese subjects,” says Athanase Benetos, MD, PhD, who conducted a 14-year study of nearly 250,000 French men and women.
Another very important analysis, the Framingham Heart Study, continuously followed a group of 3,128 men and women. The study found that those with normal blood pressure live longer and spend more years free of stroke and other cardiovascular disease, underscoring the association between high blood pressure and shorter life expectancy. Lead researcher Oscar Franco, MD, DSc, says, “This emphasizes the need to improve blood pressure control.”

Work It Out

Hypertension isn’t the only culprit when it comes to stroke risk; other medical conditions, including diabetes and high cholesterol, also increase the chance of stroke. Swings in blood glucose slowly damage blood vessels, while cholesterol deposited in blood vessel walls build up and clog arteries, leading to atherosclerosis. Promisingly, these conditions—like hypertension—can be controlled or influenced by lifestyle factors.

“If there’s a magic elixir in life, exercise would be it,” says Forbes. “Regular exercise reduces hypertension as well as virtually every other modifiable risk factor. Almost every study that has been done looking at exercise and disease conditions shows an improvement in that condition with exercise.”

Aerobic exercise can lower blood pressure, increase HDL (good) cholesterol, control diabetes and improve overall cardiovascular health. For the uninitiated, gradually working up to 30 minutes or more a day of walking, jogging, bicycling or swimming can dramatically diminish stroke risk.

Compared with people with low levels of physical activity, the risk of ischemic stroke is 20% lower for those who are highly active and 13% lower for those who are moderately active. Even those who exercised for only one to 29 minutes daily had an 8% lower stroke risk, proving that any exercise helps.

Eating for Life

A protruding tummy is not just aesthetically unpleasing. Obesity leads to a greater output of blood, since the heart has to pump out more blood to supply the excess tissue. The result: higher blood pressure. Fortunately, losing as little as 10 pounds can drop blood pressure and improve cholesterol and insulin levels.

The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating plan, endorsed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and recommended for everyone in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, is rich in fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, beans, lean proteins and low-fat or nonfat dairy.

The DASH diet is considered flexible enough to meet most lifestyle and food preferences.
A diet high in soybean proteins, nuts and plant sterols can lower cholesterol and reduce stroke risk just as effectively, says the American Heart Association. Studies show that the diet is as efficient at lowering cholesterol and C-reactive protein, a blood marker of impending stroke or heart disease, as statin drug treatment.

“Dietary change, exercise and weight loss are the primary places to focus,” says Forbes, who proposes an anti-inflammatory diet high in omega-3 fat-rich foods such as salmon, halibut, mackerel and flax seed. “A diet that is low in saturated and trans fats, sugar, caffeine and refined carbohydrates, moderate in alcohol, and high in fresh fruits and vegetables, fiber, whole grains and anti-inflammatory foods can have a dramatic impact on the risk factors of stroke.”

A moderate reduction in salt intake may also contribute to lowering blood pressure, though not all individuals with high blood pressure are responsive to sodium reduction. Still, the NIH recommends moderate salt intake for all Americans to help prevent or treat hypertension.

Vitamins Against Stroke

Dietary supplements are another effective weapon in the crusade against stroke—especially antioxidants. Researchers in Neurology report, “Our results agree with the view that high dietary intake of antioxidants, in particular vitamin C and vitamin E, reduces the risk of stroke.” Scientists from Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center (CPMC) of New York Presbyterian Hospital found a person’s risk of stroke is reduced by 53% by taking a vitamin E supplement each day.

Studies show a correlation between low levels of vitamin B6 and incidence of stroke, signifying a relationship between inflammation and low B6 status. Researchers suggest that, in lieu of a B6 capsule, it is preferable to take a multivitamin tablet that contains at least two  milligrams of B6.

While you can’t control some major stroke risks, such as age and family history, you can control such factors as weight, exercise and diet, tobacco use and stress. Even if you can’t escape a stressful job, researchers have good news: A supportive home life can help lower the negative impact of stress on a person’s blood pressure.

Had my grandfather taken these proactive steps, his story might well have had a different ending. A lifetime of bad habits can’t be erased overnight, but preventative measures can head off high blood pressure and stroke in the long run.