Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Stroke Prevention - Is Aspirin a Good Idea?

One of the worst fears people have about losing their health is that they might have a stroke. Also called a 'cerebral vascular accident' or 'CVA' or even 'brain attack', the results can be truly debilitating, or even life threatening.

Of course, this has motivated people to find solutions, and many have opted for a recommendation by the medical community and the pharmaceutical industry to take an aspirin a day. In fact some people have been doing this for years.

The medical justification for this has been that taking an aspirin a day will reduce 'sticky' platelets, and 'sticky' platelets can clog arteries, leading to one kind of stroke.

Is this truly a good stroke prevention strategy, and is it the only option, or are there better ones?

First of all, what does aspirin do? In short, with regard to stroke prevention, it reduces blood platelet activity and blood clotting. That sounds good, right? Well, yes, it does sound good. However, an aspirin a day is not without its problems. Aspirin therapy:

-is known to increase stomach and intestinal bleeding

-to increase the risk of macular degeneration, (the leading cause of blindness in the elderly).

-a German study demonstrated that platelet activity was only reduced in the first 12 hours following the aspirin dose, with a rebound reaction afterwards which actually enhances blood clotting!

-an Australian study found that people whose arteries to their brains were already blocked were three times more likely to have a stroke if they took even as little as half an adult aspirin tablet daily.

-these problems are made worse in people who consume three or more alcoholic drinks every day.

-aspirin cannot be used during the last three months of pregnancy (it may cause problems in the unborn child or complications during delivery).

-aspirin can cause ringing in the ears

-aspirin can cause hearing loss.

-people who have diabetes, gout, arthritis, or are taking anti-coagulation (blood thinning) medications must avoid it.

-long term aspirin ingestion depletes the body of some vitamins and minerals, especially iron, thus results in anemia.

So what's an alternative?

Many health practitioners have had excellent success with nutritional products that assist protein digestion, Typically these protein digesters, when used as digestive aids, are taken with meals. However, when taken for stroke prevention, they should be taken between meals, on an empty stomach. How does this work?

Since clots are made of the protein fibrin, the enzymes in protein digesters help break down the fibrin-based clots and plaque in human arteries. This has been demonstrated to work in rabbits, where the product used was bromelain, an extract from pineapple that helps break down protein.

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Article Source:http://EzineArticles.com/?expert

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