VEGETABLES, FRUITS, GRAINS REDUCE STROKERISK IN WOMEN

SWEDISH women, who ate an antioxidant-
rich diet had fewer strokes regardless of
whether they had a previous history of
cardiovascular disease, in a study reported
in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart
Association.
“Eating antioxidant-rich foods may reduce
your risk of stroke by inhibiting oxidative
stress and inflammation,” said Susanne
Rautiainen, M.Sc., the study’s first author
and Ph.D. student at the Karolinska Institutet
in Sweden. “This means people should eat
more foods such as fruits and vegetables
that contribute to total antioxidant
capacity.”
Oxidative stress is an imbalance between
the production of cell-damaging free
radicals and the body’s ability to neutralise
them. It leads to inflammation, blood vessel
damage and stiffening.
Antioxidants such as vitamins C and E,
carotenoids and flavonoids can inhibit
oxidative stress and inflammation by
scavenging the free radicals. Antioxidants,
especially flavonoids, may also help
improve endothelial function and reduce
blood clotting, blood pressure and
inflammation.

Potassium-rich foods may cut stroke, heart disease risk

A NEW study suggests that a diet rich in
foods that are loaded with potassium can
reduce stroke risk by 21 per cent and may
also lower heart disease risk.
The report is published in the March 1
online edition of the Journal of the
American College of Cardiology.
Good sources of potassium include bananas
and other fruits and vegetables, as well as
fish, poultry and dairy, the researchers
noted.
According to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, sweet potato and tomato paste
top the list.
“The average dietary potassium intake in
most countries worldwide is much lower
than recommended by health authorities,
and increasing potassium intake may
provide protection against stroke and other
cardiovascular disorders, ” said lead
researcher Dr. Pasquale Strazzullo, a
professor of medicine at the Federico II
University of Naples Medical School, in Italy.
For the study, Strazzullo’s team pulled data
about potassium and cardiovascular disease
from 11 studies, which included a total of
247,510 men and women. The researchers
looked at what people in these studies
recalled eating in the past day.
This process is called a meta-analysis, in
which researchers look for trends in the
data that may support a particular
conclusion, even when these data were not
the main point of the study.
They found that people who consumed
1.64 grams of potassium or more a day had
a 21 percent lower risk of stroke and also
tended to have a lower risk of any
cardiovascular disease.
Strazzullo noted that five or more servings
of fruits and vegetables will provide the
amount of potassium needed to get this
protective effect.
“The protective effect of potassium against
the risk of stroke and other vascular events
may in part be traced to its blood pressure-
lowering effect, particularly in hypertensive
individuals and in those with elevated
sodium intake, ” Strazzullo said.
However, other processes appear to be at
work as well, he added. For example,
potassium may be involved in slowing the
process of atherosclerosis and preventing
the thickening of the walls of arteries, all of
which can lead to cardiovascular disease.

Stroke

STROKE is the common name for a sudden
paralysis or loss of sensation caused by
severe damage to some part of the brain as
a result of an interruption of the blood
supply to this part.
Under normal circumstances, the demands
of the brain for a continuous supply of
fresh blood are so great that one-fifth or 20
per cent of the blood pumped by the heart
is delivered to the brain.
Each artery in the brain is responsible for
nourishing a particular territory and the
severity of a stroke depends on which
vessel is involved. An interruption of blood
supply to any part of the brain causes
permanent damage to the cells within about
five minutes.
Although the outset of stroke is sudden, the
underlying disease condition has usually
been of long standing. In fact, little is known
of the cause of stroke, except that there is
a strong association with high blood
pressure (that is, hypertension).
Other predisposing factors are diabetes and
any condition that makes thrombosis more
likely. Thrombosis is the formation of a
blood clot in the body and it may occur as a
complication of arteriosclerosis, use of oral
contraceptives and polycythemia.
Stroke may also be caused by the lodging of
a floating fragment of blood clot (known as
embolus) in one of the arteries of the brain.
Or it may be caused by a rupture of the
wall of an artery in the brain, with escape of
blood into the brain tissue.
The symptoms of stroke may develop
instantly or over a period of several
minutes. The patient usually collapses and
may lose consciousness. His face may be
red and there may be vomiting and
convulsions. Paralysis may cripple the
muscles of one side of the face, causing the
mouth to be pulled to the strong side.
In Holistic Lifecare, it is strongly advocated
that the best prospects of reducing the ill
health due to stroke lies in the detection and
treatment of the conditions that increase
the risk.
The patient should undergo massage and
other manipulative therapies aimed at
speeding the recovery of the functions of
walking and speech, and the learning of
day-to-day tasks. The Holistic Natural
Remedy being suggested for stroke is a
combination of the Natural extracts of
herbs such as Allium sativum, Aristolochia
albida, Picrlima nitida, Harungana
madagascariensis and Viscum album.