In a new study, researchers have identified regular meat consumption as the third major possible reason for stroke in Nigeria and Ghana.
The study, which looked at 30 potential risk factors for stroke in Ghana and Nigeria, found that hypertension and abnormally high cholesterol or fats in the blood top the list of 11 contributors to stroke occurrence.
The Stroke Investigative Research and Educational Network (SIREN) study had recruited 2118 adults with stroke and 2118 stroke-free controls from 15 health facilities in Nigeria and Ghana between August 28, 2014, and June 15, 2017.
Information of the ethnic origin of the participants and their parents, socioeconomic status, cardiovascular risk profile, and dietary patterns were collected using questionnaires.
Several blood tests, including that for sugar and cholesterol level, were also done. Factors such as physical inactivity, stress, depression, cigarette smoking, and alcohol use were also considered.
According to the researchers, the chances of a person developing stroke from the study were associated with 11 potentially modifiable risk factors.
In the descending order, these were hypertension, high cholesterol or fat level (dyslipidaemia), regular meat consumption, pot belly (high waist-to-hip ratio), diabetes, low green leafy vegetable consumption, stress, added salt at the table, heart disease, physical inactivity, and current cigarette smoking.
According to the 2018 journal, Lancet Global Health, Professor Mayowa Owolabi and his colleagues said that hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, stress, and green leafy vegetable consumption were associated with ischaemic and haemorrhagic strokes.
While obesity, physical inactivity, regular meat intake, salt intake, and cardiac diseases were associated with ischaemic strokes, tobacco was associated with haemorrhagic strokes.
An ischaemic stroke happens when a blood clot, or other blockages, cuts off the blood supply to your brain. This is the most common type of stroke.
A haemorrhagic stroke is a stroke that is caused by bleeding in or around the brain. Although they are less common than strokes that are caused by a blockage, they can be much more serious.
Hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes, stress, and low consumption of green leafy vegetables were associated with stroke regardless of the age.
Heart diseases were significantly more associated with stroke in people younger than 50 years, whereas current cigarette smoking, added table salt, and regular meat consumption was significantly associated with stroke in those 50 years and older.
Significantly, obesity, stress, regular meat consumption, and regular sugar consumption were significantly associated with stroke occurrence among Nigerians.
Based on their findings, the researchers said “implementation of interventions targeting these leading risk factors at the population level should substantially curtail the burden of stroke among Africans.
“Dietary and socioeconomic factors seem to play more important roles in predisposition to stroke among Africans than previously appreciated,” they concluded.
Stroke remains a leading cause of long-term disability and the second most common cause of death worldwide. It is particularly pertinent in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where nearly 80 per cent of all global stroke mortalities occur, and stroke burden is projected to increase in the coming decades.
Previous, researchers had also said that red meat, a source of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol, was associated with increased risk of stroke in a dose-dependent manner.
Conversely, regular consumption of green leafy vegetables was associated with reduced risk of stroke among 75, 000 stroke-free Swedes after a decade of follow-up.
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