Fat from vegetable might decrease stroke risk

Fat in the diet has long been linked to stroke risk, but new research presented Monday suggests that it’s the type of fat, not the amount, that may be the more important factor. 

The study found that eating more animal fat was linked to a higher risk of stroke, while getting more fat from vegetable sources was linked to a lower risk. 

Stroke is the fifth-leading cause of death in the U.S., and nutritionists have long worked to understand how diet plays a role.

If everyone could make small modifications, such as reducing red and processed meat intake, the implication for public health will be huge,” said the study leader, Fenglei Wang, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Wang’s findings, which were presented Monday at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2021, haven’t yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. 

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The results come from 27 years of data from more than 117,000 health care professionals. The data were pulled from two of the largest and longest-running nutritional studies in the U.S. — the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. In those studies, participants regularly completed questionnaires about their diets and provided researchers with medical records. (One of the limits of the new study is that the participants in the two long-running studies are predominantly white health professionals.) 

Stroke occurs when blood flow is cut off to a part of the brain. It can be caused by a blood clot, called an ischemic stroke, or the rupturing of a blood vessel, called a hemorrhagic stroke. Ischemic strokes account for almost 90 percent of strokes every year, while hemorrhagic strokes account for 10 percent. 

The study found that a higher intake of vegetable fats was linked to a lower risk of ischemic stroke, with those who ate the most vegetable and polyunsaturated fats (such as olive oil) 12 percent less likely to have ischemic strokes compared to those who ate the least. 

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Eating less animal fats also appeared to have a positive impact on the risk for types of stroke. Participants who ate the most animal fat — which included fat from red and processed meat but excluded dairy fat — were 16 percent more likely to have strokes than those who ate the least. Fat from dairy, on the other hand, wasn’t associated with stroke risk.

Higher intake of vegetable fats from foods such as olive oil and nuts is associated with a lower risk for stroke, whereas people who eat more animal fats, especially processed red meats, may have a higher stroke risk, observational findings suggest.

In a study of more than 117,000 health professionals who were followed for 27 years, those whose diet was in the highest quin-tile for intake of vegetable fat had a 12% lower risk for stroke compared with those who consumed the least amount of vegetable fats. 

Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability. Eating higher total amounts of red meat, processed red meat and non-dairy animal fat increases the risk of stroke, while consuming more vegetable fat or polyunsaturated fat lowers it, according to a new study.

The findings of the research will be presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2021.

This study is the first to comprehensively analyze the impact on stroke risk from fat derived from vegetable, dairy and non-dairy animal sources. 

Types of fat and different food sources of fat are more important than the total amount of dietary fat in the prevention of cardiovascular disease including stroke. 

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Reducing consumption of fats helps in stroke prevention. Adhering to a healthy diet, exercise can reduce risk of stroke. 

It has been recommend for the general public to reduce consumption of red and processed meat, minimize fatty parts of unprocessed meat if consumed, and replace lard or tallow (beef fat) with non-tropical vegetable oils such as olive oil, corn or soybean oils in cooking in order to lower their stroke risk

Many processed meats are high in salt and saturated fat, and low in vegetable fat. Research shows that replacing processed meat with other protein sources, particularly plant sources, is associated with lower death rates.

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Key features of a heart-healthy diet pattern are to balance calorie intake with calorie needs to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, choose whole grains, lean and plant-based protein and a variety of fruits and vegetables; limit salt, sugar, animal fat, processed foods and alcohol; and apply this guidance regardless of where the food is prepared or consumed.

Despite the limitations, Miedema and Severson said the findings are reliable and echo what nutritional research has previously found — that diet has an  outsize impact on a person’s risk for disease. 

“There’s no need for perfection, but there is so much power in improving our health with our food choices. We can prevent the bulk of illnesses like stroke by changing what we’re eating,” Severson said. “Even if you’re genetically predisposed to cardiovascular disease like stroke, having a healthy diet can bring your risk down to the same risk as someone who doesn’t have a genetic risk factor.”