American ’stroke belt’ fuelled by too much of fried fish
By ANIThursday, December 23, 2010
WASHINGTON - Fried fish is a major reason as to why people in Alabama and across the “stroke belt” states are likelier than other Americans to die of a stroke, according to a new study.
The REGARDS (Reasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke) trial led by George Howard at the University of Alabama at Birmingham studied 21,675 people over the age of 45 between January 2003 and October 2007, and continues to follow them for health events.
Frying fish leads to the loss of the natural fatty acids, the AAN said in a press release. It also recommends that people eat fatty fish at least twice a week.
The study found that people in the stroke buckle were 17 percent less likely to meet the recommendations than those in the rest of the country, the AAN said.
And people in the stroke belt were 30 percent more likely to eat two or more servings of fried fish than those in the rest of the country.
“These differences in fish consumption may be one of the potential reasons for the racial and geographic differences in stroke incidence and mortality,” said Fadi Nahab, Emory University, author of the current paper, in an AAN press release.
“One of the next steps in this research will be to determine if people who eat higher amounts of non-fried fish have less risk of stroke than people who don’t eat a lot of fish or eat more fried fish,” said Suzanne Judd, assistant professor of biostatistics at UAB and a study co-author.
The study is published in the December 22, 2010, online issue of Neurology. (ANI)
