While it might taste good traditional southern cooking has been linked to more heart attacks and stroke. Researchers were trying to determine why Southerners have a 20 percent higher stroke risk and why stroke risk is higher among blacks. “In findings presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that those with the greatest adherence to a “Southern” diet had a 41 percent increased risk of stroke. Conversely, those who had a “plant-based” diet heavy in fruits, vegetables and beans had a 29 percent lower risk of stroke, according to the study. Blacks in the study were more likely to eat the southern diet. “It explains about 63 percent of the racial difference in stroke,” Judd said. “We’ve also looked at differences in hypertension because African Americans tend to have more hypertension than their white counterparts. Blacks were five times more likely than whites to have the Southern dietary pattern linked with the highest stroke risk. Hypertension explains about 40-50 percent of the racial disparity and diet explains an additional 63 percent. The reason that those numbers overlap a little is obviously diet can lead to high blood pressure, which leads to a stroke.”
“We’re talking about fried foods, french fries, hamburgers, processed meats, hot dogs,” bacon, ham, liver, gizzards and sugary drinks, said the study’s leader, Suzanne Judd of the University of Alabama in Birmingham. Diet might explain as much as two-thirds of the excess stroke risk seen in blacks versus whites, researchers concluded.
If you have eaten the traditional Southern diet and want to lower your chances of heart disease what researchers and doctors are recommending is the Mediterranean Diet. An analysis of more than 1.5 million healthy adults demonstrated that following a Mediterranean diet was associated with a reduced risk of overall and cardiovascular mortality, a reduced incidence of cancer and cancer mortality, and a reduced incidence of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
The Mediterranean diet emphasizes:
• Getting plenty of exercise
• Eating primarily plant-based foods, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts
• Replacing butter with healthy fats such as olive oil and canola oil
• Using herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor foods
• Limiting red meat to no more than a few times a month
• Eating fish and poultry at least twice a week
In March 2011, an analysis of 50 studies linked the Mediterranean diet to lower odds of getting metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of risk factors (high blood pressure, blood sugar, unhealthy cholesterol levels, and abdominal fat) that make heart disease, diabetes, and stroke more likely.
