Eating to Reduce Stroke and Heart Attack: What You Need to Know [New Research]

Well, the time is upon us once again. It is nearly our country's Independence Day, and while the holiday generally brings with it plenty of camping trips, music festivals, family barbeques, etc., it also tends to be a time when many Americans find themselves indulging in lots of fatty, salty, and simple carbohydrate-rich foods from all of those post-river 4th of July cookouts. 

Don't worry! I'm not here to chastise you for that. It's necessary to indulge once in awhile! Instead, I wanted to share the results of an interesting study that examined the diets of people with heart disease to see what effects a Mediterranean style vs. a Western style diet had on their likelihood of experiencing a stroke or heart attack. 

First, some logistics to help you understand the study: Researchers looked at 15,482 people and based on in-depth questionnaires about their diets, assigned each person a Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), where higher scores resulted from participants reporting that they ate greater amounts of healthy, unprocessed foods. Okay, now on to the interesting part...

Nope! The results aren't what you think. Alright, maybe part of the results are. But contrary to what you were probably assuming, those who consumed a more "Western style" diet (meaning they ate more deep-fried foods, refined carbohydrates and sugary drinks), did NOT have an increased risk of stroke or heart attack over control groups. Instead, the major finding is that the Mediterranean style dieters experienced a significant REDUCTION in likelihood of developing these conditions compared to the Western dieters and controls. 

In fact, according to a recent article that examined the research, "The researchers found that every one-unit increase in the MDS was associated with a 7% reduction in the risk of heart attacks, strokes or death from cardiovascular or other causes in patients with existing heart disease."

Researchers suggest that the main message here is that eating more healthy food (specifically fruit, vegetables, fish and unrefined food) is of greater importance for people with heart disease than avoiding unhealthy foods is. 

While these are certainly fascinating findings, it is important to note, as the study points out, that this research only looked at people who already have heart disease. People wishing to prevent heart disease and its complications in the first place, might actually increase their risk by eating a Western style diet, but this study was not able to examine that relationship.

At any rate, when you're out at the inevitable hot dog and hamburger fest this weekend, just try to sneak a little extra watermelon, olive oil, and fish onto that plate!