According to a new study, people with higher levels of iron are at a greater risk of having a stroke.
Iron and strokes
The researchers at Imperial College London found that people with “genetically determined higher” iron levels were at a greater risk of strokes that result from a blood clot or other obstacle traveling from the heart.
More specifically, the scientists identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the DNA of people that tend to raise or reduce iron levels. Once the compared the SNPs to another genetic dataset of people who had experienced strokes, they found that the SNPs that raise iron levels were associated with the people most likely to have cardioembolic strokes.
The authors of the study warn that people shouldn’t use this information to try to alter their iron levels, however. More research is needed to confirm the results and find out why iron has this effect.
“This is an early-stage finding,” says the School of Public Health at Imperial College London’s Dr. Dipender Gill, the lead author of the study, “and we would certainly not recommend that patients at risk of stroke reduce their iron intake, as it has many crucial roles in the body.”
Iron, for example, carries oxygen in red blood cells.
Cardioembolic stroke around the world
The World Health Organization estimates that annually, 15 million people have a stroke. Of that 15 million, one-third die and another one-third become disabled for the rest of their lives.
Of the 795,000 strokes that occur annually in the United States, about 140,000 lead to death.
Most strokes are of the ischemic type. This type of stroke is caused by a blockage in the blood vessels that stops oxygen-rich and nutrient-rich blood from reaching the affected part of the brain.
Cardioembolic strokes make up a large portion of ischemic strokes. They’re also linked to atrial fibrillation, which is when the heart beats faster than normal or irregularly.
