Recent researches show that diet rich in white fleshed fruits such as apple, pear and citrus fruits like oranges or grapefruits may significantly reduce stroke risk. Specially, citrus fruits lower women’s risk of stroke.

In the study related to citrus fruits published in April issue of the Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Women who ate the most citrus fruit had a 19 percent lower risk of having an ischemic stroke than women who didn't. The study researched 69,622 women for 14 years and participants reported their food intake (details on fruit and vegetable consumption) every four years. The researchers analyzed the women’s diets, specifically about the six main subclasses of flavonoids — flavanones, anthocyanins, flavan-3-ols, flavonoid polymers, flavonols and flavones.

Study Researcher Aedin Cassidy- a professor of nutrition at the University of East Anglia in the UK said that flavanones may lower stroke risk via some mechanisms.

Flavanones-subgroup of flavaonoids in citrus fruits have connection with lower the risk of stroke. The experts also suggested to eat more citrus fruits, rather than drinking juice. Because fruit juices may have a lot of sugar.

Besides, other study was also published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, found a link between fruit consumption of white fruits and the risk of stroke.

In this study, they had information from 20,069 people between ages 20 and 65 about what they ate a one-year period. All of the people did not diagnose heart disease or stroke at the beginning of the study. During the 10 years later, 233 people had strokes. The results show that risk of stroke was 52% lower for people who ate a lot of white-fleshed fruits and vegetables, compared to those who did not.

The researchers found that eating white fruits and vegetables more than 25-gram daily linked with a 9% lower risk of stroke. The white food are bananas, cauliflower, chicory, and cucumbers.

Other fruits and vegetable color groups also protect against diseases, so it’s significant to eat many different fruits and vegetables.

The color of fruits and vegetables had beneficial phytochemicals (plant compounds), such as carotenoids and flavonoids.

In the study, researchers divided fruits and vegetables into four color groups: Green (dark leafy vegetables, cabbages, and lettuces), orange-yellow (mostly citrus fruits), red-purple (mostly red vegetables), and white, of which 55% were pears and apples.

Currently, the U.S. Preventive Health Services advises that daily diets include vegetables from five sub-groups: dark green, red-orange, legume, starchy, and others.

However, researchers of two studies also said that it needed more studies to confirm their findings.

Reference:

http://www.livescience.com/18608-citrus-fruits-stroke-risk.html

http://www.webmd.com/stroke/news/20110915/apples-pears-may-reduce-stroke-risk