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.
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.
