HealthDay reports, “Diets rich in antioxidants from fruits, vegetables and whole grains appear to lower a woman’s odds for a stroke, even if she has a prior history of heart disease,” according to a study published in the journal Stroke.
WebMD reports that investigators “grouped 31,035 women without heart disease and 5,680 women with a history of heart disease. Then they measured the amount of antioxidant-rich foods and beverages they ate and drank.”
MedPage Today reports, “Among women with no history of cardiovascular disease at baseline, age-adjusted analysis showed that those with the highest intake of antioxidant-rich food had a 17% lower risk of total stroke when compared with those with the lowest antioxidant intake after an average 11-year follow-up.”
Meanwhile, “in the cohort of women with cardiovascular disease upon entry, the age-adjusted model showed no significant relationship, but the fully adjusted model showed a significant 46% to 57% reduction in stroke risk among those in the quartiles with highest consumption of antioxidant foods compared with those with the lowest intake.”
HeartWire reports, “The findings of this study seem to conflict with those of previous research that failed to show beneficial effects of antioxidant supplements on stroke risk.”