Wednesday July 8, 2015 (foodconsumer.org) -- Susanna C. Larsson, PhD and colleagues recently reported in Neurology that following a healthy lifestyle was associated with reduced risk of stroke.

The study showed that among men at high risk of stroke because of having other cardiovascular disease or health conditions, those who followed a healthy lifestyle were 79% less likely to suffer stroke, compared with those who did not follow the healthy lifestyle.

The healthy lifestyle was defined as having intake of 5 or more servings per day of fruits and vegetables and lower than 30 grams per day of processed meat, not smoking, maintaining more than 150 minutes of physical activity and body mass index of 18.5 to 25 kg/m2, and drinking no more than  30 grams of alcohol per day.

The study was based on data from 11,450 men in the Cohort of Swedish Men who were considered at high risk for stroke as they had a history of hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, or atrial fibrillation.  All participants were followed for nearly 10 years during which 1,062 incident stroke cases were recorded.

The healthy lifestyle was found equally effective at preventing both ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke.  The risk reduction in both strokes was about 70%. (David Liu)

Susanna C. Larsson, PhD, Agneta Åkesson, PhD and Alicja Wolk, DMSc, Primary prevention of stroke by a healthy lifestyle in a high-risk group, Neurology, Published online before print May 1, 2015