New evidence has emerged that taking a vitamin B supplement could potentially reduce the risk of stroke. Vitamin B supplements are already touted as beneficial for stress, anxiety, depression, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease.

“Previous studies have conflicting findings regarding the use of vitamin B supplements and stroke or heart attack,” said author Xu Yuming, with Zhengzhou University in Zhengzhou, China. “Some studies have even suggested that the supplements may increase the risk of these events.”

Scientists analyzed 14 random clinical trials that included a total of 54,913 participants. All 14 studies compared B vitamin use with either a placebo or an extremely low dose of vitamin B. Each participant was then followed for six months. Nearly 2,500 strokes were recorded across all of the studies, all of which showed at least some benefit of taking vitamin B. Overall, the risk of stroke was lowered by seven percent, but the supplements did not appear to have any affect on the severity or risk of death from stroke.

Folic acid, often found in fortified cereals, appeared to reduce the effect of the vitamin B. No stroke risk reduction was discovered for vitamin B12.

“Based on our results, the ability of vitamin B to reduce stroke risk may be influenced by a number of other factors such as the body’s absorption rate, the amount of folic acid or vitamin B12 concentration in the blood, and whether a person has kidney disease or high blood pressure,” said Yuming. “Before you begin taking any supplements, you should always talk to your doctor.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stroke is the leading cause of death in the United States. It reportedly kills around 130,000 people each year.

Medical News Today reported recently that even though stroke is commonly associated with people 65 years of age or older, studies are starting to suggest that younger people could be at a much higher risk than previously thought.

“Ischemic strokes can have many different causes, the most common being hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking and obesity,” Dr. Rafael Alexander Ortiz, director of neuro-endovascular surgery and stroke at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. told WebMD in reference to the newly released research. “There is a group of patients that may suffer a stroke due to deficiency of vitamins and enzymes. It is appropriate to perform a comprehensive work-up, including vitamin deficiencies, in patients that have suffered a stroke.”

This research study can be viewed online in the September 18, 2013 issue of Neurology, the American Academy of Neurology’s medical journal.