The levels of 10 metabolites in the blood such as amino acids and lipoproteins are associated with a person’s risk of stroke, according to metabolomics research
Higher levels of histidine were found to be associated with a lower risk of ischaemic stroke, according to a study carried out at Erasmus University Medical Centre in the Netherlands.
Conversely levels of pyruvate were associated with an increased risk of stroke, according to the analysis of the levels of 147 metabolites among 38,797 people.
Published in Neurology the meta-analysis included pooled data from seven studies in which 1,791 people had a stroke during the follow-up period of two to fifteen years.
Of 10 metabolites linked to stroke risk, the strongest association was found with the amino acid histidine. With every one standard deviation increase in levels of histidine, people had a 10% lower risk of stroke, after adjusting for other factors that could affect risk of stroke, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and body mass index.
“Histidine can be converted to histamine, which has been shown to have a strong effect on the dilation of the blood vessels,” said study author Dr Dina Vojinovic, (PhD), an epidemiologist at the centre.
“It also functions as a neurotransmitter in the brain and has been shown in some studies to reduce blood pressure and inflammation, so this finding is not surprising.”