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FRIDAY, March 12, 2021 (HealthDay News) – A healthy plant-based diet could reduce your risk of stroke by up to 10%, researchers say.
This type of diet includes greater amounts of foods like vegetables, whole grains, and beans, and less unhealthy foods like refined grains or added sugars.
“Numerous studies are already showing that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of all kinds of diseases, from heart disease to diabetes,” said study author Dr Megu Baden of Harvard. TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston. .
“We wanted to know if there is an association between this type of healthy diet and the risk of stroke,” Baden said.
The results were published online on March 10 in the journal Neurology.
Investigators examined nearly 210,000 people who initially did not have heart disease or cancer. Participants were followed for over 25 years and completed dietary questionnaires every two to four years.
The researchers divided the participants into five groups based on the amounts of plant-based foods they ate, not excluding all foods of animal origin.
On average, people with the healthiest plant-based diet consumed 12 servings of healthy plant-based foods like leafy greens, fruits, whole grains, beans, and vegetable oils per day, while that those whose diets were of the lowest quality consumed an average of 7.5 servings per day.
During the follow-up period, approximately 6,240 participants had strokes, including 3,015 who had ischemic strokes (caused by blocked blood flow to the brain) and 853 who had strokes hemorrhagic (bleeding). The type of stroke was not known to the rest of those who had a stroke.
Compared with people with the lowest consumption of healthy plant-based foods, those who ate the most had a 10% lower overall stroke risk and an ischemic stroke risk of about 8%. % inferior. There was no difference in the risk of hemorrhagic stroke.
Researchers also found no association between a vegetarian diet and stroke risk. But maybe that’s because a vegetarian diet doesn’t necessarily mean a high-quality diet, Baden said in a press release.
“A vegetarian diet rich in less healthy plant foods, such as refined grains, added sugars and fats, is an example of the difference in quality of some so-called ‘healthy’ diets. Our results have important implications for public health. Future nutrition policies aimed at reducing the risk of stroke should take into account the quality of food, ”said Baden.
More information
The US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more on stroke prevention.
SOURCE: Neurology, press release, March 10, 2021
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