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n a recently published study,
researchers from Taiwan concluded that eating a vegetarian diet rich in nuts,
soy, and vegetables may lower a person’s risk of having a stroke.
Share on PinterestNew research
suggests that eating a plant-based diet may help prevent stroke.
The study, which appears in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology,
investigated the link between a person’s diet and the occurrence of two
different types of stroke.
These were hemorrhagic stroke, in which blood from an artery
bleeds into the brain, and ischemic stroke, which results from a blocked blood
vessel.
In the United States, about 795,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke each
year, and it is the second leading cause of death globally.
A stroke can result in disabilities, and affected
individuals are more likely to
develop dementia in the future.
The American Heart Association (AHA) estimate that by 2030,
almost 4% of adults in the U.S. will have had a stroke.
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Vegetarianism and veganism have become increasingly popular
in both the United Kingdom and the U.S.
While many people opt for a plant-based diet for
environmental and animal welfare reasons, they also often
perceive these diets as being better for their health.
A study that the BMJ published
last year investigated strokes in more than 48,000 meat eaters and vegetarians
in the U.K. The study authors reported that although vegetarians had lower
rates of ischemic heart disease than the meat eaters, they were more likely to
have a stroke.
They concluded that there could be some factors associated
with animal food consumption that might prevent a stroke.
In the recently published study, the researchers recruited
two cohorts of volunteers from Buddhist communities in Taiwan, totaling more
than 13,000 participants.
At the start of the study, the researchers medically
examined the participants and asked them about their diet, smoking habits,
alcohol intake, and physical activity.
The researchers then tracked the volunteers’ health using
the National Health Insurance Research Database. They followed the first group
of volunteers for an average of 6 years and the second group for 9 years.
The average age of the study participants was 50 years. The
researchers did not recruit anyone who was under 20 years of age or had a
history of stroke.
Approximately 30% of the volunteers were vegetarians who did
not eat any meat or fish, and, of these individuals, about one-quarter were
male.
The vegetarians ate more nuts, vegetables, and soy than the
nonvegetarians. They also drank more alcohol and smoked less.
While both groups ate the same amount of fruit and eggs, the
nonvegetarians consumed more dairy and fat than the vegetarian volunteers.
The researchers calculated that after adjusting for age,
sex, smoking, and other health conditions, the vegetarians in the first group
had a 74% lower risk of ischemic stroke than the nonvegetarians.
In the second group, vegetarians
had a 60% lower risk of ischemic stroke, a 65% lower risk of hemorrhagic stroke,
and a 48% lower risk of overall stroke than nonvegetarians.
“Overall,
our study found that a vegetarian diet was beneficial and reduced the risk of
ischemic stroke even after adjusting for known risk factors like blood
pressure, blood glucose levels, and fats in the blood.”
– Study author Dr. Chin-Lon Lin, Tzu
Chi University in Hualien, Taiwan
“This could mean that perhaps there is some other protective
mechanism that may [protect] those who eat a vegetarian diet from stroke.”
In their paper, the authors suggest that their results may
differ from those of the large study appearing in the BMJ because their participants
avoided alcohol, a potential risk factor for stroke.
The authors also noted that while it was useful to have comprehensive
data on a non-Western group of vegetarians, the study findings may not be
applicable to populations living outside Buddhist communities in Taiwan.
J. David Spence, a professor of neurology and clinical
pharmacology at Western University in London, Canada, and Christy Tangney, a
professor in the department of preventive medicine at Rush University, Chicago,
IL, comment on the paper in a linked editorial.
They say: “The low overall risk of stroke likely reflects
the mean age at baseline of only ~50 years in both cohorts and the relatively
short duration of follow-up (5–7 years in cohort 1 and 9 years in cohort 2).”
“In both cohorts, ~30% followed a vegetarian diet.
Importantly, only ~25% of vegetarians were men.”
The authors of the editorial also point out that the
researchers only assessed the volunteers’ diets at the beginning of the study,
noting that the participants could have changed their eating habits during the
years of follow-up.
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