New information seems to point to the possibility that 2/3 of the “attributable” risk of stroke (not sure exactly what that means…) is due to diet.
We’ve known for a long time that diet is one of the areas that can raise or lower the risk of stroke, but the fact that recent research has shown that it might be much more significant is kind of exciting – you can’t do much about your genetics but you can change what you eat!
The participants in the study referenced on theheart.org were all age 45 and older. They answered questions about their food patterns and when all the information was gathered, there were 5 basic dietary patterns that resulted:
Diet of Convenience – Mexican/Chinese, both meat and beans – think take away!
Plant-based including grains and lean meats – fruits/veggies, cereal, fish/poultry
Sweets and White Flour – breads, chocolate, desserts, pastries, added fats
Southern – fried food, organ and processed meat, fatty milk, added fats
Alcohol – beer/wine/liquor, green leafy veggies with salad dressing, coffee, nuts, seeds
So these are not “diet plans” per se – just mathematical breakdowns of the types of food the participants typically ate – and it doesn’t mean people fell strictly into one category or another.
People that followed the “Southern” plan tended to not only eat a lot of fried foods, but fried foods that were fried in things like bacon fat, which resulted in vegetables dishes that contained significant amounts of animal fat. This way of eating resulted in a 30% greater risk of stroke after being adjusted for other factors such as activity, smoking, age, etc.
[box type=”warning” align=”alignleft” ]Large amounts of animal fats can clog your blood vessels, and increase risk of both heart damage and stroke.[/box]
The good news is that those that ate largely from the plant-based model had a 20% reduction in their risk – pointing to that type of diet being more protective from stroke risk.
Of course, as always there were lot of questions raised by this study, and more research needs to be done. Perhaps stroke risk is increased by both eating unhealthy food and NOT eating enough healthy plant food. They want to study that more closely.
In the meantime, pass the spinach please (er, the one that wasn’t cooked in bacon fat!).
Image by sleepyneko on Flickr.
