Just in time for the fall fruit season comes this remarkable news:
Eating apples and pears may help prevent stroke.
That’s the conclusion of a Dutch study which found that eating a lot of fruits and vegetables with white flesh may protect against stroke. The results were published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association
The researchers’ work is the first to examine associations of fruits and vegetable color groups with stroke. Previous studies have linked high consumption of fruits and vegetables with lower stroke risk.
Read about a fascinating study: Olive Oil Benefits—Olive Oil Benefits for Stroke Risk
The color of the edible portion of fruits and vegetables reflects the presence of beneficial phytochemicals such as carotenoids and flavonoids.
The Dutch researchers studied the link between fruits and vegetable color group consumption with 10-year stroke incidence in a population-based study of 20,069 adults, with an average age of 41.
The participants were free of cardiovascular diseases at the start of the study and completed a 178-item food frequency questionnaire for the previous year.
Fruits and vegetables were classified in four color groups:
- Green, including dark leafy vegetables, cabbages and lettuces
- Orange/Yellow, which were mostly citrus fruits
- Red/Purple, which were mostly red vegetables
- White, of which 55 percent were apples and pears
During 10 years of follow-up, 233 strokes were documented. Green, orange/yellow and red/purple fruits and vegetables weren’t related to stroke, according to the study.
However, the risk of stroke incidence was 52 percent lower for people with a high intake of white fruits and vegetables compared to people with a low intake.
Each 25 gram per day increase in white fruits and vegetable consumption was associated with a 9 percent lower risk of stroke. An average apple is 120 grams.
Learn more about stroke and nutrition: Omega-3’s Protect the Brain
“To prevent stroke, it may be useful to consume considerable amounts of white fruits and vegetables,” said Linda M. Oude Griep, M.Sc., lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow in human nutrition at Wageningen Uninversity in the Netherlands. “For example, eating one apple a day is an easy way to increase white fruits and vegetable intake.”
“However, other fruits and vegetable color groups may protect against other chronic diseases. Therefore, it remains of importance to consume a lot of fruits and vegetables.”
Apples and pears are high in dietary fiber and a flavonoid called quercetin. In the study, other foods in the white category were bananas, cauliflower, chicory and cucumber. Potatoes were classified as a starch.
Dietary fiber is explained in: A Tale of Two Fibers
Previous research on the preventive health benefits of fruits and vegetables focused on the food’s unique nutritional value and characteristics, such as the edible part of the plant, color, botanical family and its ability to provide antioxidants.
An accompanying editorial notes that the finding should be interpreted with caution because food frequency questionnaires may not be reliable. In addition, “the observed reduction in stroke risk might further be due to a generally healthier lifestyle of individuals consuming a diet rich in fruits and vegetables,” writes Heike Wersching, M.D., of Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine at the University of Münster, in Germany.
Discover more research: Coffee Linked to Reduced Stroke Risk in Women
Our Favorite: Bare Fruit 100% Organic Bake-Dried Fuji Apple Chips
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Reference:
Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, “Colors of Fruit and Vegetables and 10-Year Incidence of Stroke” Published online before print September 15, 2011, doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.110.611152 Wageningen University, Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
