Women can reduce stroke risk by eating citrus fruits

Sunday, April 27, 2014 by: Raw Michelle
Tags: reduce stroke risk, women''s health, disease prevention

(NaturalNews) It's no secret that eating a variety of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables offer an array of health benefits from improving mood to lowering cholesterol. Many of them also have the ability to reduce the risk of stroke due to compounds that improve blood flow.

However, newer studies have surfaced showing that citrus fruits in particular can help reduce stroke risk for women. The Journal of the American Heart Association published studies that found that risk of ischemic stroke can be lowered for women who eat certain citrus fruits. Women who consumed oranges and grapefruit in particular were shown to have a 19 percent lowered stroke risk over women who did not consume these kinds of citrus fruits.

The findings were based on a study that involved 14 years of follow-up data across almost 70,000 female nurses. Their food choices were closely examined and it was found that those eating citrus foods had the lowest stroke risk.

Why citrus foods help fight risk of stroke

The reason these specific fruits play a role in reducing stroke risk is due to the fact that they have a subgroup of flavonoids called flavanones.

Flavonoids have long been heralded for their healthful antioxidant abilities. However, the benefit of one particular kind called flavanones is what stood out in the published study since they were said to offer the most protection against stroke. "Flavanones may reduce risk of stroke through several mechanisms, including improving blood vessel health and countering inflammation," according to one study researcher Aedin Cassidy, who is also a professor of nutrition at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom.

In addition to offering stroke protection in women, citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit also contain vitamin C, fiber, folate and potassium which can help with heart protection and give people increased energy levels.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stroke takes the life of one American every four minutes, on average. About 55,000 more women than men have a strokes annually, and many are not aware of stroke symptoms which include sudden onset of: impaired vision, headache, confusion or numbness typically on just one side of the body.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.cdc.gov/stroke/facts.htm

https://www.naturalnews.com/035387_citrus_fruit_stroke_risk_women.html

http://www.cbsnews.com

http://www.livescience.com/18608-citrus-fruits-stroke-risk.html

http://stroke.ahajournals.org

About the author:
Raw Michelle is a natural health blogger and researcher, sharing her passions with others, using the Internet as her medium. She discusses topics in a straight forward way in hopes to help people from all walks of life achieve optimal health and well-being. She has authored and published hundreds of articles on topics such as the raw food diet and green living in general. >>> Click here to see more by Michelle