Flavonoids Reduce Risk of Heart Disease, Stroke
Written By: School of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Kuopio
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Published - Sep 17, 2008
A new study by scientists in School of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Kuopio suggests that eating foods rich in flavonoids may reduce risk of ischemic stroke and risk of death from cardiovascular disease drastically.
The study showed that people in the quartile with the highest intake of flavonol and flavan-3-ol had their risk of ischemic stroke (artery blockage) reduced by 45 and 41 percent respectively than those who were in the lowest quartile.
The associations were found after other factors were adjusted including age BMI, systolic blood pressure, hypertension medication high density lipoprotein, low dense-lipoprotein-cholesterol, smoking, family history of CVD, diabetes, alcohol intake, energy-adjusted intake of folate and vitamin E, total fat and others.
For the study, Mursu J and colleagues followed for 15 years 1950 eastern Finnish men aged 42-60 who were free of CHD or stroke when entering the prospective population-based Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study.
The study also found that the rate of death from CVD for people in the quartile with highest intake of flavanone and flavone intakes was 46 and 35 percent lower respectively than those in the lowest quartile.
The authors wrote in their report that "the results suggest that high intakes of flavonoids may be associated with decreased risk of ischemic stroke and possibly with reduced CVD mortality."
Flavonones and flavones are found high in parsley, thyme, celery, hot peppers, oranges, grapefruits, and lemons while flavonols and flavonols are present in teas and chocolate, apples, berries, red grapes, yellow onions, scallions, kale, and broccoli, according to the Linus Pauling institute.
The study was published in the Oct 2008 issue of British Journal of Nutrition.