Joel Fuhrman - Eat To Live

132 Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

advise ingesting one tablespoon of ground flaxseed every day, if pos-

sible. Many like to sprinkle it over fruit or add it to a salad.

Is There an Increased Risk of Stroke from Low-Fat Diets?

There is considerable evidence that while animal fats are definitely

associated with an increase in heart disease, more fat may offer pro-

tection against hemorrhagic stroke at the same time.^25 Of course, re-

cent investigations have shown the strong protective effects of fruits

and vegetables, but apparently some data suggests that fat, even an-

imal fat, offers some protection to the smaller intracerebral vessels

that cause hemorrhagic strokes.^26

There are two main types of strokes: ischemic and hemorrhagic.

Almost all heart attacks and the vast majority of strokes are associ-

ated with ischemia (lack of blood flow) from blood clots. The small

percentage of strokes that are hemorrhagic (approximately 8 per-

cent) result not from a cholesterol-laden vessel leading to a clot but

from a rupture of a small artery in the brain as a result of years and

years of high blood pressure.^27 Some of these small, fragile blood ves-

sels in the brain possibly become more resistant to rupture when

they are more diseased with fat. It is entirely possible that in certain

cases, the same diet that leads to abnormal clot formation and causes

99 percent of heart attacks and over 90 percent of strokes may help

the small intracerebral vessels resist the tendency to rupture from

years of uncontrolled hypertension that results from a high-salt

diet. This is in no way a legitimate excuse to eat more saturated fat.

It makes more sense to eat the healthful anti-heart attack diet

and keep your blood pressure down by not consuming much added

salt.

The data is so confusing because many of the studies group all

types of strokes together, when they are in fact very different diseases

with completely different causes. Considering embolic strokes, the

data from both human and rat studies illustrates the importance of

adequate essential omega-3 fat intake, including an increased omega-3:

omega-6 ratio.^28 These omega-3 fats are the same ones that protect

against heart attacks, which are also of an embolic nature. Keep in

mind, saturated fat intake has consistently been associated with an increase

in strokes in general because most strokes are of the ischemic (embolic)

variety.^29

Finally, to make things even more confusing, some monounsat-