Out of all the various stroke risk factors, scientists have found that the below seven are at the very top:
Eating A High-Fat Diet
The same foods associated with heart attacks, including red meat and anything fried, can also raise your risk of a brain attack.
At the recent American Stroke Association’s (ASA) International Stroke Conference, researchers from the University of North Carolina presented findings that post-menopausal women who consumed high-fat diets had 40 percent more incidences of ischemic stroke than low-fat eaters.
Trans fats, found in processed foods like pastries and crackers, seem particularly nasty: The group of women who consumed seven grams of trans fat each day had 30 percent more stroke incidents than those who ate one gram.
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So what to eat instead?
Multiple studies suggest that a Mediterranean-inspired diet can lower stroke risk. That means lots of vegetables, whole grains, fish, olive oil, nuts and seeds, and very little red meat and sweets.
Being A Single Man
If you’re a man who’d like to cut his chances of a fatal stroke, get hitched.
A University study of more than 10,000 men found that those who were married at midlife were 64 percent less likely to die of a stroke during the next 34 years than single men. The data was adjusted for other stroke risk factors like socioeconomic status, blood pressure and smoking.
