The American Stroke Association reports that about 795,000 Americans each year suffer a new or recurrent stroke. On the average, a stroke occurs every 40 seconds and kills more than 137,000 people a year. Stroke is recognized as the number 4 cause of death with a death every four minutes from stroke. These facts are of deep concern to people in Syracuse who are always searching for news about natural manners to avoid being hit with a potentially deadly stroke. Consuming more citrus fruit has emerged as a possible healthy manner to help avoid stroke.
Crystal Phend has reported for MedPage Today "An Orange a Day Keeps Stroke Away." An observational study has determined a compound which is found in oranges, grapefruit, and other citrus fruit may modestly reduce stroke risk among women. Aedín Cassidy, PhD, of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, and colleagues have found that women with the highest levels of flavanone in their diet were 19% less likely to have an ischemic stroke during 14 years of follow-up than those with the least flavanone intake. Citrus fruit and juice, as the main source of these antioxidants, showed a similar trend as reported in the April issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Previously vitamin C received most of the praise for the protective effect of citrus found in stroke, however in this study the vitamin didn't correlate with total or ischemic stroke or attenuate the link to flavanones. In the study most of the flavanones consumed by women came from orange and grapefruit juice (63%). However, the researchers have suggested that eating the whole fruit would likely be a better way to increase intake. They have written "Given the higher flavanone content of citrus fruits and the sugar content of commercial fruit juices, public health recommendations should focus on increasing citrus fruit intake."
Flavanones are among one of six types of commonly consumed flavonoids, which various studies have associated individually to different benefits, such as hypertension risk reduction with anthocyanins, and lower stroke risk in some studies of flavonols. While randomized trials are suggested by the researchers to further test flavanone and citrus foods for reduction of ischemic stroke risk, consumption of citrus fruits nevertheless appears to have promise in reducing stroke risk.
Photographer: Suat Eman
