Can eating green leafy vegetables cut risk of stroke?

A new study says that reducing stress and increasing green leafy vegetable consumption may be a novel way to reduce the rates of brain bleeds and ward off strokes.

You may want to add green leafy vegetables to your diet as according to a recent study, it can help ward off strokes. According to researchers, reducing stress and increasing green leafy vegetable consumption may be a novel way to reduce the rates of brain bleeds. A previous study said that people who eat more fruits and vegetables are 42% less likely to be at risk of heart failure than those who consumed fewer plant-based foods.

Reducing stress and increasing green leafy vegetable consumption may be a novel way to reduce the rates of brain bleeds.(Shutterstock)

The findings indicated that the people who reported eating more green leafy vegetables had 64% lower risk of experiencing a stroke. The team analysed 682 patients of average age 53.7 years at 15 sites in Nigeria and Ghana who experienced brain bleeds. Bleeding strokes accounted for 32.2% of all strokes in the study. Of the bleeding strokes, 93.9% were determined to be related to high blood pressure, 7.2% to structural abnormalities such as a bulging weak area of a blood vessel and much smaller percentages to other medical conditions or medication use.

Comparing the patients with high blood pressure-related brain bleeds to similar people in the same communities without stroke, the researchers found that the risks were 2.33 times as high in people with diabetes; 2.22 times as high in people who reported more stress at home and work; 1.69 times as high in people with abnormal cholesterol levels and 10.01 times as high in tobacco smokers.

However, the risk was 64% lower in people who reported eating more green leafy vegetables. The research is scheduled to be presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2018 in Los Angeles, California.

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