Danish study shows healthy Nordic diet could help prevent stroke
Researchers have found that foods typically associated with a healthy Nordic diet might help prevent stroke. Those who ate a diet rich in fish, grains and vegetables were found to be less likely to suffer stroke than those whose diets contained fewer of these ingredients.
Mediterranean diets have long been recommended as a healthy option for those looking to minimise health risks, but researchers have now found that a healthy Nordic diet might have a similar effect.
Fresh research published by Danish scientists in Stroke journal followed 55,000 people over 14 years.
Those who ate oats, fish, rye bread, root vegetables, cabbage, apples and pears on a regular basis were found to suffer ischemic stroke at a rate 15 percent lower than those who consumed smaller quantities of these typically Nordic foods.
Ischemic stroke occurs because of an obstruction in a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain, and account for nearly 87 percent of all stroke cases. No reduction was observed in the other main type of stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, in which bleeding occurs in the brain tissue itself.
Nordic diets have been associated with lower blood pressure in previous studies, which also included berries and rapeseed oil.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Food costs could eat up half of northern incomes, Radio Canada International
Finland: Rebranding ‘superfoods of the North,’ Yle News
Norway: The food crisis in the Far North, Barrents Observer
Sweden: Demand ups Sweden’s reindeer meat prices, Radio Sweden
United States: Investors bet on farmed kelp being Alaska’s next seafood export, Alaska Dispatch News
