After menopause: healthy eating reduces stroke risks by more than 50%

In postmenopausal women, stroke can be counteracted by a proper lifestyle. Following a 'proper diet, reducing alcohol consumption, not smoking, constant physical activity, and having a Body Mass Index of less than 25 ^kg/m2 is the suitable combination to reduce the risk of ischemic stroke in 60-year-old women by more than 50 percent.

This is according to research, conducted at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, which investigated the relationship between different elements of a healthy lifestyle and reduced risk of stroke after menopause. The results were published in the journal Neurology.

'Hypertension increases the risk of stroke.

Stroke, one of the world's leading causes of disability and mortality, is a cerebrovascular lesion due to interruption of blood flow to the brain because of an obstruction or rupture of a blood vessel. In the former case we speak of ischemic stroke (or cerebral infarction), in the latter of hemorrhagic stroke. 

Because its consequences are generally severe and irreversible, primary prevention is of great importance. Hypertension is a risk factor for stroke. Diet, alcohol consumption, smoking, physical activity, and adiposity can in turn alter blood pressure and thus influence the likelihood of stroke. Few studies have, however, examined the effect of a healthy, and therefore low-risk, lifestyle on the incidence of this disease.

Healthy living helps fight stroke

The Swedish study involved 31,696 postmenopausal women, free of cardiovascular disease and cancer, who had joined a complex cohort study, the Swedish Mammography Cohort, completing a diet and lifestyle questionnaire. The stroke cases, 1554 including 1155 cerebral infarctions, 246 hemorrhagic strokes, and 153 unspecified strokes, were identified through a national registry. Correlation analysis of these data showed that the probability of stroke decreased steadily as the number of factors indicative of a low-risk lifestyle increased. 

The researchers observed that the combination of multiple protective elements was associated with halving the risk of ischemic stroke and the overall risk of stroke, compared with 'the absence of the elements of a healthy lifestyle. In detail, a 9% reduction in risk was found through physical activity alone, 17% with the absence of smoking, and by varying proportions between these two percentages with the other components. Women who complied with all 5 healthy lifestyle factors showed a 62% lower risk of being affected by stroke, compared with women with an unhealthy lifestyle. In addition, a Body Mass Index of less than 25 ^kg/m2 appeared to be the only factor that correlated with reduced hemorrhagic stroke.

An innovative study

According to the authors, the research confirms what has already been found in larger population studies such as the Nurses' Health Study and the Women's Health Study, enriching it with precise data on weight and the interaction between various protective factors. The data obtained would indicate, again according to the Swedish scientists, that proper diet and lifestyle can significantly reduce the risk of cerebral infarction.   

 Source: Larsson SC, Akesson A, Wolk A. "Healthy diet and lifestyle and risk of stroke in a prospective cohort of women." Published online before print October 8, 2014, doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000000954 Neurology, November 4, 2014 vol. 83 no. 19 1699-1704