Healthy Viewpoint: Another reason to eat more fruit & veg

Nutritionists have long since advised eating plenty of fresh fruit and veg to keep your heart healthy. Now, however, there's another good reason. A diet that's rich in fruit and vegetables may help women reduce their risk for having a stroke, say experts from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
 
Writing in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, the researchers claim that the stroke-lowering effect comes from the amount of antioxidants found in your diet. Antioxidants are chemicals that are largely found in plants, including fruit and veg (especially the brightly-coloured types), and have been linked with many health benefits, including heart health. In this instance, the scientists believe antioxidants may reduce your risk of stroke because they prevent inflammation as well as damage to the blood vessels.
 
The study discovered that among women who had a history of cardiovascular disease, those whose diets were high in fruit and veg antioxidants had up to a 57 percent lower risk of having a haemorrhagic stroke compared with the women who didn't eat lots of antioxidants.
 
And even among women who didn't have a history of cardiovascular disease, those who ate lots of fruit and veg had a 17 percent lower risk of stroke than the women whose diets were low in antioxidants.
 
You could, however, argue that people who eat lots of fresh fruit and veg may simply have a healthier lifestyle than those who don't, and that this could also contribute to the fact that they have a lower stroke risk. But according to the Swedish researchers, even when they took that into account, the study still showed fewer strokes among women who had higher amounts of antioxidants in their diet.
 
According to the Stroke Association, around 150,000 people have a stroke in the UK every year. It's the third most common cause of death in England and Wales after heart disease and cancer, and is the cause of death for 13 percent of women and nine percent of men each year.
 
Earlier this year, it was announced that the number of people dying from strokes had fallen dramatically over the past decade – a fact that has largely been attributed to health improvements such as tackling high blood pressure and promoting giving up smoking.
 
But if we all ate a healthier diet with lots more fresh fruit and vegetables – and fewer fatty, sugary foods – then perhaps we could get those statistics to drop even further.
 
Are you hitting your five-a-day goal? Or are you struggling to give up a junk food habit? If so, visit your nearest pharmacist and ask for information on healthy eating – it won't cost you a penny.