Foods Rich In Magnesium Reduce Your Chance of Stroke

Eating foods rich in magnesium really matters when it comes to reducing your chance of stroke. A new study finds that the risk of one particular type of stroke is lower in those whose diets contain more of the nutrient magnesium.

The most commonly seen type of stroke, known as an ischemic stroke (where one of the blood vessels in the brain is blocked by a clot causing damage to cells), saw a reduction in risk of 9% for every 100mg of magnesium consumed each day.

Regularly eating foods rich in magnesium also offered a modest reduction in the chances of all types of stroke. For every 100mg of magnesium each day, subjects reduced their chance of suffering a stroke by 8%.

To study stroke and magnesium, the Swedish team examined data from seven already published studies on magnesium and stroke. These projects were conducted between '98 and 2011, with over 240,000 adults over 34 years old.

The subjects were followed for from 8 to 15 years, and during this period, 6,500 of them had a stroke. The average intake of magnesium in the participants was from 242 to 471 milligrams a day.

As a point of reference, the U.S. dietary guidelines call for a magnesium intake of 420 mg per day for men over 31; 320 mg a day for women of the same age.

The researchers found that subjects who had greater volumes of magnesium in their diet also had a reduced risk of stroke. This held even after the team accounted for other factors that might impact the results - blood pressure, age, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol levels, how active a subject was, vitamin supplementation and other factors in the diet, alcohol consumption and even other family members with heart disease. And still the magnesium levels were related to stroke risk.

No one knows why this might be. The Swedish research team believes that the mineral may be helpful in bringing down blood pressure. A diet with lots of magnesium has also been found to bring a lower diabetes risk, and since diabetes is also a stroke risk factor, this may well play a role.

And while no one is ready to call for magnesium supplements to bring down stroke risk, added magnesium rich foods to your diet can only help you. If you're at a greater risk for stroke, you'll certainly want to make an effort to get more natural magnesium in your diet.

The best places to get magnesium...

- Whole grains - one cup brown, long grain rice, one cup raisin bran cereal

- Green leafy veggies like spinach

- Nuts - one ounce of dry roasted almonds or cashews

- Beans - half cup cooked soybeans, blackeye peas

The latest research comes with an accompanying editorial that suggests it is time to conduct a large trial to see if taking magnesium supplements might be helpful for adults at risk of stroke and/or heart disease. Keep your eyes open for such research, and its results - in the meantime, continue to eat healthily and enjoy lots of good for you foods.

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Natural Ways to Reduce Your Cholesterol

Looking after your body should be one of the things top of your mind from as soon as you are old enough to think independently.

If you treat your body like garbage, then the chances are that it will treat you back the same.

Now, of course, the human body is built to last and it can deal with being thrashed around a bit, but constantly abusing it, especially where there is no need is asking for trouble.

It is a fact that having high cholesterol has been linked to heart disease and so looking after you bodies cholesterol levels as well as your general health should be high on your priority list. No matter what age you are. You shouldn't wait until things start going wrong to begin caring for yourself. However, if you have healthy cholesterol levels, then it is wise not to take anything to reduce your cholesterol.

So, if you are looking to reduce cholesterol, how can you go about doing it naturally?

Your cholesterol levels are generally down to your lifestyle choices. There may be cases where there is another underlying factor and medical help is required, but generally it comes down to lifestyle choices.

The exercise you undertake and the food you eat are what directly affect the levels of good and bad cholesterol in your blood.

For those of you new to this, yes, there is 'good' and 'bad' cholesterol. The bad cholesterol (LDL) is the kind you find in your hamburgers and other meats, it comes from saturated fats. The good cholesterol is found in foods such as nuts and fish which contain unsaturated fats.

There's evidence that foods containing certain added ingredients, such as plant sterols and stanols, can reduce levels of cholesterol in the blood. These are often advertised as such along with other 'super foods'.

Sterols and stanols can be found in specially developed products, such as some spreads and yogurts.

Thus if you are looking to reduce cholesterol, then taking these products as well as eating more soy products and a super food, blueberries, can help you make progress to better cholesterol levels.

If you are looking just to maintain healthy cholesterol levels then eating lots more fish and adding some nuts and soy products into your diet, while cutting down on meat and other products high in saturated fats is the first move you should take.

In addition to taking more care and love with your diet, if you are not already doing so, then get your body moving every day.

You don't need to go to the gym, but just get on your bike or do some decent paced walking for 30 or 40 minutes a day.

Once you learn to do it right and get into the right habits, you will feel less inclined towards the lazy habits that lead to unhealthy and high in saturated fat diets and life styles.

If you are interested to learn more about reducing cholesterol, statins and Lipitor side effects then head on over.

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Heart Disease Prevention - How to Reduce Your Cholesterol Levels

Doctors worldwide will tell you that cholesterol is one of the primary factors for heart diseases. Unhealthy levels of cholesterol in the blood can increase weight problems and probabilities of a heart attack.

Here are some easy tips that can be included in the daily life routine to help live a life free of cholesterol!

1. Follow a diet controlled by the expertise of a professional dietician / doctor.

2. One of the most effective and healthiest of all tips to control cholesterol is undoubtedly Exercising.

3. Why? Because Exercising increases the heart rate thereby improving the metabolism of the body allowing improved expulsion of harmful oils, detrimental to an individual's health.

4. The type of exercise to be done will depend largely on varied factors including medical history. The deciding factors also include age, gender and weight.

5. Needless to mention, those beginning exercising must first consult a physician and ensure safety in doing them.

6. Heart ailment patients might be advised against any rigorous exercises but could resort to simpler alternates like stretching, weight lifting, walking, etc.

7. If a physician allows some high impact exercises, participate mandatorily in swimming, running, bicycling, aerobics, etc.

8. Consult a doctor to sketch a fitness plan in detail and ensure adherence to the same with the guidance of a professional fitness trainer. Following the plan duly is in the hands of the patient!

9. Results of such plans normally become evident within a week or two. Very soon bad cholesterol will start getting reduced in the body, replaced with good cholesterol leading to a considerable reduction in the body weight.

10. Exercising has less or no side effects as compared to consuming drugs which potentially has a lot of side effects on the body.

11. Brisk walking in the early morning or just before going to your workplace is highly recommended to those who do not have time in their daily schedule to go to a gym.

12. Whenever exercising in any form or format, consuming lots of water is highly recommended as it helps a great deal.

13. This prevents the body from dehydration and repercussions thereby like exhaustion. For this, one doesn't need to run up to the fountain time and again; instead carry a water bottle! While working on a machine or participating in a group activity, this really helps and moving from one place to another time and again really doesn't help!

14. Some organizations these days encourage their people to walk up 1 or 2 flights of stairs, instead of using the elevators to go up & down only a few floors.

Lower Cholesterol definitely means lower probability of a heart ailment!

Learn more about how to Lower your Cholesterol.

Lower Cholesterol definitely will lower probability of a heart ailment. Find out more.

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