Individuals who consume a typical Southern-style diet high in fried foods, organ meats, sugary drinks and salt, have a higher risk of stroke compared to the rest of the U.S. population, according to new research presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2013.
Previous research has shown that Southerners are about 20% more likely to have a stroke than the rest of Americans. In the first large-scale study on the relationship between Southern foods and stroke, researchers at the University of Alabama Birmingham characterized a Southern diet by a high intake of foods such as fried chicken, fried fish, fried potatoes, bacon, ham, liver and gizzards, and sugary drinks such as sweet tea. In addition to being high in fat, fried foods tend to be heavily salted.
The researchers conducted a nationwide telephone survey to compare the dietary habits of more than 20,000 black and Caucasian adults and found stroke frequency was directly proportional to how much Southern food participants consumed. People who ate Southern foods about six times a week had a 41% higher stroke risk compared to those who ate it about once a month. They also found eating a Southern diet accounted for 63% of the higher risk of stroke among blacks than Caucasians.
They found individuals who consumed fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains at least five times a week had a 29% lower stroke risk than those who consumed the same foods about three times a week.
“We’ve got three major factors working together in the Southern-style diet to raise risks of cardiovascular disease: fatty foods are high in cholesterol, sugary drinks are linked to diabetes and salty foods lead to high blood pressure," said Suzanne Judd, Ph.D., M.P.H., lead researcher and a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Alabama Birmingham’s biostatistics department.
