A new study suggests that people taking folic acid supplements along with blood pressure drugs are at a lower risk of getting a stroke.

Yong Huo of Peking University First Hospital in Beijing, China along with his team members, conducted the study which suggests that stroke is the leading cause of death in China. Stroke is also the second leading cause of death in the world.

The latest study involved more than 20,000 people who suffered from hypertension or high blood pressure. None of the study participants had any history of heart attack or stroke. Randomly selected participants were given enalapril, a drug to treat high blood pressure that is marketed as Vasotec in the U.S., along with supplements of folic acid. Other participants were just given enalapril.

After 4.5 years, the study's midpoint, 282 people, or 2.7 percent, who took folic acid supplements and enalapril, experienced their first stroke. However, 355 people who took just enalapril experienced their first stroke. The data represent 21 percent reduction of relative risk of stroke for people who took hypertension drug with folic acid supplement.

The study also found that the percentage of ischemic stroke risk also reduced in people taking the combination of medicines.

Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a preventive cardiologist at the Lenox Hill Hospital, suggests that doctors should start checking the level of folic acid in patients and consider prescribing it to patients to reduce stroke-related deaths.

"Although we would hope that diet would be the best source of nutrients, sometimes it is impossible to get enough essential nutrients in our diets," says Dr. Steinbaum. "The study shows that with supplementation of folic acid, it might actually help prevent the risk of stroke."

The study also highlights that even though it involved participants who were suffering from hypertension, the results also apply to normotensive people.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that about 800,000 people in the country suffer from stroke each year. Around 610,000 people suffer a stroke for the first time and the balance has already had a stroke before. About 130,000 people die of stroke each year in the U.S.

The study is important as it can help save the lives of thousands of people with simple prescription of folic acid supplement, which is easily available.

The study has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). 

Photo: Lucas Hayas | Flickr