|
Healthy Lifestyle Cuts Women's Stroke Risk
Large, 10-year study shows big benefit to exercise and healthy diet
TUESDAY, July 11 (HealthDay
News) -- A healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise, no
smoking, moderate alcohol consumption, and a healthy diet can help cut
a woman's stroke risk, a new U.S. study confirms.
Published Monday in the
Archives of Internal Medicine, the study began in 1993 with over 37,600
women, age 45 or older, who were asked about their lifestyle habits and
given a "health index score" ranging from zero to 20. The higher the
score, the more healthy the lifestyle.
Healthy behavior was
defined as never smoking, consuming four to 10.5 alcoholic drinks per
week, exercising four or more time per week, having a body mass index
(BMI) of less than 22, and eating a healthy diet that included high
levels of cereal fiber, folate and omega-3 fatty acids, low levels of
trans fat and glycemic (blood sugar) load, and a high ratio of
polyunsaturated to saturated fat in the diet.
The women were followed for
an average of 10 years. Over that time, 450 of the women suffered
strokes (356 ischemic, 90 hemorrhagic, and 4 undefined). An ischemic
stroke occurs when a blockage in an artery reduces blood flow to the
brain, while a hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a ruptured blood vessel
causes blood to leak into the brain.
The study found that the
4.7 percent of the women in the study with 17 to 20 health index points
were at much lower risk of stroke overall and of ischemic stroke,
compared women with zero-to-four health index points.
"Our findings show the
importance of healthy behaviors in the prevention of total and ischemic
stroke," the study authors concluded.
|
