One of the largest studies, conducted among 418,000 people in nine European countries, has suggstested that different foods can contribute to ischaemic stroke and haemorrhagic stroke separately.
Two types of stroke are most common—ischaemic stroke which occurs when a blood clot blocks an artery supplying blood to the brain, and haemorrhagic stroke which occurs when the blood supply to your brain is cut off when a blood vessel bursts and bleeds (haemorrhages) into your brain. When there is bleeding in the brain it damages nearby cells.
Researchers, including those from the University of Oxford in the UK, said higher intakes of fruit, vegetables, fibre, milk, cheese, or yoghurt could be linked to a lower risk of ischaemic stroke, but there was no significant association with a lower risk of haemorrhagic stroke. Eating more eggs could be linked to a higher risk of suffering a haemorrhagic stroke, but not with ischaemic stroke.
"The most important finding is that higher consumption of both dietary fibre and fruit and vegetables was strongly associated with lower risks of ischaemic stroke, which supports current European guidelines," said Tammy Tong, the first author of the study from the University of Oxford.
"The general public should be recommended to increase their fibre and fruit and vegetable consumption, if they are not already meeting these guidelines," Tong said.
According to the study, published in the European Heart Journal, the total amount of fibre that people ate was associated with the greatest potential reduction in the risk of ischaemic stroke.
It noted that every 10 gram (g) increased intake of fibre a day was associated with a 23 per cent lower risk of ischaemic stroke, which, according to the researchers, is equivalent to around two fewer cases per 1000 of the population over ten years.
They said fruits and vegetables alone were associated with a 13 per cent lower risk for every 200 g eaten a day.
The researchers also said that for every extra 20 g of eggs consumed a day there was a 25 per cent higher risk of haemorrhagic stroke.
Tong and her team suspect that the associations they found between different foods and ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke might be explained partly by the effects on blood pressure and cholesterol.
They analysed data from 418,329 men and women in nine European countries including Denmark, Germany, and Greece, who completed questionnaires asking about diet, lifestyle, medical history and socio-demographic factors, and were followed up for an average of 12.7 years.
During this time, the study noted that there were 4281 cases of ischaemic stroke and 1430 cases of haemorrhagic stroke.
According to the researchers, a major strength of the study was that it included a large number of people studied in several different countries over a long follow-up period.
However, the researchers noted that the study is observational, and does not show that the foods studied cause an increase or decrease in risk of ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke.
(With inputs from PTI)
