Meats and Sweets May Add Up to a Stroke

 People who are fond of the so-called Western diet -- full of meats, refined grains, sweets and full-fat dairy products -- may be headed for a stroke.

Researchers found that women whose typical eating habits most closely resembled the Western diet were almost twice as likely to have a stroke than those who ate the least amount of foods typical to the diet.

"We found out that the industrialized, Western pattern increases people's risk of stroke," study author Teresa T. Fung, an assistant professor of nutrition at Simmons College in Boston , told HealthDay .

Each year more than 700,000 Americans have a stroke, the third leading cause of death in the United States , according to the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Symptoms of a stroke include trouble walking, one-sided weakness or numbness, confusion, trouble speaking or seeing or a sudden and severe headache, according to the institute. Known risk factors for stroke include high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and smoking.

To assess the level of risk that comes from diet, the researchers examined data from almost 72,000 women who participated in the Nurses' Health Study, a national research study that began in 1976.

The women were assigned two scores: one for a prudent diet, the other for a Western diet. The higher the score in a particular diet, the more closely the woman's food intake resembled that type of diet. Findings were first published last year in the journal Stroke .

During the 14-year study period, almost 800 women had strokes. Of those, 476 were ischemic strokes, the most common type, which occur when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel in the brain. Almost 200 were hemorrhagic strokes, which occur when a blood vessel on or near the brain ruptures. Another 126 were unclassified.

After adjusting for other known risk factors, such as smoking and high blood pressure, the researchers found that women who scored the highest for the Western diet had almost twice the risk of any type of stroke.

If a woman had other risk factors, her risk of stroke was even greater when following a Western diet. For example, women with high blood pressure and high Western diet scores had three times the risk of stroke when compared with women who did not have high blood pressure and who followed a more plant-based diet.

"There are factors we can change that could have an impact on long-term risk for vascular diseases, and particularly stroke," Dr. Ralph Sacco, a spokesman for the American Heart Association and a professor of neurology and epidemiology at Columbia University in New York City , told HealthDay .

The American Heart Association advises people to eat a diet full of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean meats and fish to reduce their risk of both stroke and heart attack.