Gluten-Free Edge | Health by Gini

—”Eat your fruits and vegetables” is advice handed down to us since we were children, and medical studies have backed this advice. But could some fruits and vegetables be more beneficial than others in preventing certain diseases? A new study by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) found that citrus fruits may reduce the risk of stroke in women.

The study was electronically published on February 23, 2012 in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association.

Kathryn M. Rexrode, MD, BWH Department of Medicine, and colleagues from the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom and the University of Bari, Italy conducted a prospective study of 69,622 women from data from the Nurses’ Health Study. Based on questionnaires participants completed during 14 years of follow-up, the researchers were able to track stroke incidence and calculate flavonoid intake. Flavonoids are a type of antioxidant found in foods such as fruits, vegetables, dark chocolate and red wine.

The researchers discovered that a particular sub-type of flavonoid called flavanone-which are abundant in citrus fruits-seemed to have a protective effect against stroke.

High consumption of citrus fruits and juices was associated with a 19 percent reduced risk of ischemic stroke (a type of stroke that happens when blood flow to the brain is blocked). Women who consumed the highest amount of flavanones had a lower risk of ischemic stroke compared to women with the lowest intake.

Participants’ main dietary sources of flavanones came from oranges and orange juice (82 percent), followed by grapefruit and grapefruit juice (14 percent).

The researchers note that in addition to flavanones, other components in citrus that may reduce stroke risk include vitamin C and potassium.

Despite the study’s praise for citrus fruits, the researchers caution that more work is still needed to confirm their findings.

“I would certainly not recommend that anyone take flavanone supplements based on this research,” said Rexrode.

A new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers has found that red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of total, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality. The results also showed that substituting other healthy protein sources, such as fish, poultry, nuts, and legumes, was associated with a lower risk of mortality.

The study will be published online in Archives of Internal Medicine on March 12, 2012.

“Our study adds more evidence to the health risks of eating high amounts of red meat, which has been associated with type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers in other studies,” said lead author An Pan, research fellow in the Department of Nutrition at HSPH.

The researchers, including senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH, and colleagues, prospectively observed 37,698 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study for up to 22 years and 83,644 women in the Nurses’ Health Study for up to 28 years who were free of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer at baseline. Diets were assessed through questionnaires every four years.

A combined 23,926 deaths were documented in the two studies, of which 5,910 were from CVD and 9,464 from cancer. Regular consumption of red meat, particularly processed red meat, was associated with increased mortality risk. One daily serving of unprocessed red meat (about the size of a deck of cards) was associated with a 13% increased risk of mortality, and one daily serving of processed red meat (one hot dog or two slices of bacon) was associated with a 20% increased risk.

Among specific causes, the corresponding increases in risk were 18% and 21% for cardiovascular mortality, and 10% and 16% for cancer mortality. These analyses took into account chronic disease risk factors such as age, body mass index, physical activity, family history of heart disease, or major cancers.

Red meat, especially processed meat, contains ingredients that have been linked to increased risk of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. These include heme iron, saturated fat, sodium, nitrites, and certain carcinogens that are formed during cooking.

Replacing one serving of total red meat with one serving of a healthy protein source was associated with a lower mortality risk: 7% for fish, 14% for poultry, 19% for nuts, 10% for legumes, 10% for low-fat dairy products, and 14% for whole grains. The researchers estimated that 9.3% of deaths in men and 7.6% in women could have been prevented at the end of the follow-up if all the participants had consumed less than 0.5 servings per day of red meat.

“This study provides clear evidence that regular consumption of red meat, especially processed meat,