A new study shows that a high-fat diet may be as dangerous for women's brains as it is for their hearts.
Researchers looked at 87,230 women who had participated in the Women's Health Initiative, a federally funded study that has uncovered health risks associated with taking hormone pills for menopause symptoms. Dr. Ka He and Sirin Yaemsiri looked at data collected in this study to determine if dietary fat affected a women's risk for stroke.
Participants in the Women's Health Initiative had completed detailed surveys on their diets when they enrolled, at ages 50 to 79. He and Yaemsiri divided the women into four groups, based on how much fat they reportedly ate. They then looked at data collected from the women about seven years later to see how many people in each group had suffered from a stroke caused by clogging of the blood vessels to the brain.
The review found that 288 of the women in the group who consumed the most dietary fat suffered strokes. There were only 249 strokes among the group of women who ate the least amounts of fat. After taking into account other risk factors for stroke, including weight, race, smoking, exercise, and use of Algol, aspirin, and hormone pills, researchers concluded that women who ate the most fat were 44% more likely to have a stroke. They also found that people who ate the most trans fats were 30% more likely to suffer a stroke.
The American Heart Association says that less than 25 to 35% of total calories consumed should come from fat and that trans fats should make up less than 1% of your total diet for optimal heart health. This new research suggests that limiting your fat intake may also help protect your brain.