Plant-based diets associated with a lower risk of stroke—but not if they are full of junk food
Following a healthy plant-based diet is associated with a reduced risk of stroke, according to a new analysis published in Neurology.
Researchers combined data from three different studies, tracking the health of more than 209,000 adult participants overall. All participants had no cardiovascular disease or cancer at baseline. They were all followed for more than two decades, completing questionnaires every two to four years. If participants ate less than one serving of meat or fish, they were categorized as a vegetarian for the sake of this study.
Overall, eating a healthy plant-based diet—meaning a diet high in plant-based foods, not necessarily one that is exclusively plant-based—was linked with lowering a person’s overall stroke risk by up to 10%. Such a diet was also associated with a lower risk of experiencing an ischemic stroke, though no connection was found between a healthy plant-based diet and the risk of hemorrhagic stroke.
Following a strictly vegetarian diet, meanwhile, was not specifically associated with a lowered risk of stroke. The study’s authors wondered if this was because so many vegetarians end up eating unhealthy plant-based foods.
“Our findings have important public health implications, suggesting that future nutrition policies to lower stroke risk should take the quality of food into consideration,” first author Megu Baden, MD, PhD, of the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a statement.
“Many individuals have been increasing the amount of plant-based components in their diet,” co-author Kathryn Rexrode, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said in the same statement. “These results show that higher intake of healthy plant-based foods may help reduce long-term stroke risk, and that it is still important to pay attention to diet quality of plant-based diets.”
The full study is here.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.