Tastes good. Good for you.
Stroke Journal Report
One of the largest and
longest-running efforts to evaluate the potential benefits of the Mediterranean-style diet in lowering risk of stroke found that the diet may be especially protective
in women over 40 regardless of menopausal status or hormone replacement
therapy, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s
journal Stroke.
Researchers from the
Universities of East Anglia, Aberdeen and Cambridge collaborated in this study
using key components of a traditional Mediterranean-style diet including high
intakes of fish, fruits and nuts, vegetables, cereal foods and potatoes and
lower meat and dairy consumption.
Study participants (23,232 white adults, 40 to 77) were from the EPIC-Norfolk study, the United Kingdom Norfolk arm of the multicenter European Prospective Investigation into Cancer study.
Over a 17-year period, researchers examined participants’ diets and compared stroke risk among four groups ranked highest to lowest by how closely they adhered to a Mediterranean style diet.
In participants, who
most closely followed a Mediterranean-style diet, the reduced onset of stroke
was:
- 17 percent in all adults;
- 22 percent in women; and
- 6 percent in men (which researchers said could have been due to chance).
“It is unclear why we
found differences between women and men, but it could be that components of the
diet may influence men differently than women,” said Ailsa A. Welch, Ph.D.,
study lead author and professor of nutritional epidemiology at the University
of East Anglia, United Kingdom. “We are also aware that different sub-types of
stroke may differ between genders. Our study was too small to test for this,
but both possibilities deserve further study in the future.”
There was also a 13
percent overall reduced risk of stroke in participants already at high risk
of cardiovascular disease across all four groups of the
Mediterranean-diet scores. However, this was driven mainly by the associations
in women who showed a 20 percent reduced stroke risk. This benefit appeared to
be extended to people in low risk group although the possibility of chance
finding cannot be ruled out completely.
“Our findings provide
clinicians and the public with information regarding the potential benefit of
eating a Mediterranean-style diet for stroke prevention, regardless of
cardiovascular risk,” said Professor Phyo Myint, M.D., study co-author and
former British Association of Stroke Physicians Executive Committee member,
University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
“A healthy, balanced
diet is important for everyone both young and old,” said Professor Ailsa Welch.
Researchers used
seven-day diet diaries, which they said had not been done before in such a
large population. Seven-day diaries are more precise than food-frequency
questionnaires and participants write down everything they eat and drink over
the period of a week.
“The American Heart
Association recommends a heart-healthy and brain-healthy dietary pattern that
includes a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy
products, fish, poultry, beans, non-tropical vegetable oils and nuts and limits
saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, red meat, sweets and
sugar-sweetened beverages; this dietary pattern reduces risk factors and risk
for heart disease and stroke, “said Eduardo Sanchez, M.D., MPH, the American
Heart Association's chief medical officer for prevention and chief of the
Association's Centers for Health Metrics and Evaluation, who was not a part of
this study.
“This study provides more evidence that supports AHA’s recommendation,” said Sanchez.
“This study provides more evidence that supports AHA’s recommendation,” said Sanchez.
Other co-authors are
Katherine Paterson, M.Res.; Amy Jennings, Ph.D.; Lucy Bain, Ph.D.; Marleen
Lentjes, Ph.D.; and Kay-Tee Khaw, M.D. Author disclosures are on the
manuscript.
The UK Medical Research
Council and Cancer Research UK funded the study.
Additional Resources:
- Available multimedia is on the right column of the release link - https://newsroom.heart.org/news/mediterranean-style-diet-may-lower-womens-stroke-risk?preview=2535832fa901ad28201976b57feab13a
- After Sept. 20, view the manuscript online.
- Vegetarian and Mediterranean diet equally effective in preventing heart disease
- Mediterranean diet with virgin olive oil may boost ‘good’ cholesterol
- Eat smart, Recipes, Vegetarian recipe options and Salads
- Eat more color infographic and Eat more Color Home Page
Follow AHA/ASA news on
Twitter @HeartNews
