The writer is Dr Vipul Gupta Head Neurointerventional Surgery & Chief Stroke Unit at Artemis Hospital, Gurugram
The prevailing incidences of stroke, is quite evident that epidemic like situation is bound to prevail in India, as more and more young Indians (20-40 years of age) are under its radar. When almost 80 per cent of all stroke incidences are avoidable or preventable, what is the prime reason that is deteriorating the health of the youngsters? Not only this is the duty of the medical fraternity to increase awareness about the risk factors of stroke and ways to prevent it, but the younger generation also needs to adopt certain lifestyle changes to prevent stroke from becoming an epidemic.
Pertaining to poor lifestyle choices, especially in the eating habits, the intake of junk food, meat and eggs, cases of coronary arterial diseases, stroke and intracranial hemorrhages have gone up in the past decade. While cumulative effects of poor lifestyle including stress, smoking, and bingeing on alcoholism, poor eating habits and lack of physical activities have been attributed for causing a stroke, a healthy dietary consumption has strong evidences in prevention of at least 80 per cent of all strokes.
Role of a healthy diet in prevention of stroke
With identification of the risk factors, a healthy diet plays a vital role in individually eliminating the underlying causes and hence stroke. This not only reduces the risk factors for stroke but also keeps the overall health intact. The major attributing factors raising the risk of stroke includes hypertension, Diabetes and high cholesterol levels, which through healthy diet can be maintained to prevent stroke.
Dietary approaches to stop hypertension: Instead of specifying the limits to intake of particular food or nutrients, there are several dietary guidelines that tend to recommend a complete dietary pattern. Increasingly the recommendations made in the guidelines are favourable in reduction of intake of animal fat and increase the intake of fresh fruits, vegetables and focus more on a plant based diet. The dietary approaches to stop hypertension emphasises on fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy foods with reduced intake of saturated fat, total fat and cholesterol; it included whole grains, poultry, fish and nuts, and was reduced in red meat, sweets and sugar-containing beverages. The diet plan emphasises on lowering the blood pressure by getting right amount of nutrients through portion size food. If hypertension alone can be prevented or controlled through proper diet and medication, there are 90 per cent chances of preventing a possible stroke.
Vegan Diet: The diet is not low fat but low glycemic diet with 40 per cent of the calories derived from beneficial fats such as olive and canola oils and is also high in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes like peas, lentils, beans, nuts etc. Patients with diabetes and hypertension are more likely to suffer from a stroke. Diabetes can damage blood vessels as well as your nerves leading to a high risk of transient ischemic attacks. The following items: cinnamon, fenugreek seeds, turmeric tea, cumin, Garlic, cardamom, fennel seeds, ginger, amla, spinach, bottle gourd, fibre rich food, almonds, bitter gourd, has proven results, published in various studies, showing a reduction of over 47 per cent reduction in risk of stroke.
Patients at risk of stroke should limit their intake of animal flesh, avoiding red meat and egg yolk. They should have a high intake of beneficial oils such as olive and canola, whole grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes. Egg white is a good source of protein, so omelettes, frittatas and egg salad sandwiches made with egg whites or with egg white-based substitutes are good substitutes for a meat-based meal.