How your spice rack could stop you having a STROKE
Can eating herbs and spices reduce your risk of having a stroke? More than 100,000 people in the UK are affected by a stroke each year, making it the third leading cause of death.
The majority of strokes happen when blood flow to part of the brain is cut off by a clogged artery, depriving that part of the brain of oxygen.
There are links with heart disease here. Most strokes can be thought of as ‘brain attacks’ — in a similar style to heart attacks — because they happen when fatty deposits in arteries break off and travel to the brain, or when poor blood flow caused by an irregular heartbeat forms a blood clot.
a massive stroke may kill you instantly, while a series of mini-strokes may gradually disable and kill you over several years.
But just as a plant-based diet reduces your risk of heart disease, the studies show it can lessen your stroke risk, too.
That’s in part because plant foods are packed with antioxidants, which fight the free radicals that trigger damage throughout your body.
Free radicals are bad molecules that form as part of the ageing process, accumulating in your cells over your lifetime and causing damage (it’s similar to a rusting process).
However, you can slow this process by eating foods containing lots of antioxidants. Plant-rich diets appear to protect against stroke by preventing the circulation of oxidised fats (free radicaldamaged fatty molecules) in the bloodstream. and you certainly don’t want these free-wheeling fats because they can damage the sensitive walls of small blood vessels in your brain.
antioxidants can also help decrease inflammation and artery stiffness, preventing blood clots from forming. One Swedish study followed more than 30,000 older women over the course of 12 years and found that those who ate the most antioxidant-rich foods had the lowest stroke risk.
On average, plant foods contain 64 times more antioxidants than meat, fish or other animal-derived foods. Cherries can have up to 714 units of antioxidant, for example, while salmon has just three. But the food category that packs the biggest antioxidant punch is herbs and spices — and that’s why it forms part of my Daily Dozen.
Plant-based meals tend to be rich in antioxidants on their own, but taking a moment to spice up your life may make your dishes even healthier.
For instance, a bowl of wholewheat pasta with marinara sauce might notch up an antioxidant score of 80 units (20 units from the pasta and 60 from the sauce). add a handful of steamed broccoli florets and you could end up with a delicious 150-unit meal. not bad.
now sprinkle on a teaspoonful of dried oregano or marjoram (oregano’s sweeter and milder twin). That alone could double your meal’s antioxidant power, up to more than 300 units.