Increase the amount of low-fat dairy in your diet and you might decrease your risk for stroke. A new Swedish study finds consuming low-fat dairy products may lower stroke risk.
Researchers at the National Institute for Environmental Medicine followed nearly 75,000 healthy Swedish men and women for more than 10 years. They found an association between those who ate low-fat dairy foods and a decreased risk for stroke.
Researchers think the fortified vitamin D may have something to do with it or it might be the milk protein, but more studies are needed. Some dieticians believe low-fat dairy products are just one piece of the puzzle.
"Yes. It's important that we're consuming low-fat dairy versus full-fat dairy, but also we want to remember that there is not just one magic food that's going to prevent an increased risk of heart disease or stroke later on in life," said Cleveland Clinic Registered Dietician Andrea Rumschlag. "What you can also see from the study is that most of the diets were pretty balanced in the fact that they had at least two servings of fruit per day and at least the 3 servings of vegetables per day."
Rumschlag says she is not surprised by the results of this study since past studies have shown that a lower fat diet in general, and especially a lower saturated fat diet, can help overall heart health, which, in turn, reduces your risk of having a stroke.
