Chicago: According to a new study, a plant based diet has several health benefits. The findings of the study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology states that by decreasing the intake of refined grains and added sugars may reduce stroke risk by up to 10 per cent.
A plant based diet comprising vegetables, whole grains and beans reduces the risk of having an ischemic stroke which is associated with a blockage of blood flow to the brian and is the most common type of stroke.
The study found no link between diet and hemorrhagic stroke which happens when an artery in the brain leaks blood or ruptures.
The study also threw light on the benefits of consuming a diet rich in fruits and vegetables that reduces the risk of all kinds of diseases, from heart disease to diabetes according to the author Megu Baden, M D of Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Mass. Baden added, “We wanted to find out if there is an association between this kind of healthy diet and stroke risk.”
The study involved 209,508 people who did not have cardiovascular disease or cancer at the start of the study. Researchers followed the participants for more than 25 years.
Every two to four years, participants completed a questionnaire that asked how often, on an average, they ate more than 110 foods over the previous year.
Researchers divided the participants into five groups based on the quality of their diet, especially, higher amounts of plant-based foods, without excluding all animal foods
Source: ANI
