10 Risk Factors cause 90% of Strokes

By Dr. Dana Myatt

In a large, multi-country evaluation of stroke risks published this month in The Lancet, ten risk factors emerged as accounting for 90% of all strokes. The risks are:

1. High blood pressure (history of blood pressure >160/90 even when controlled by medication)
2. Current smoking
3. High waist-to-hip ratio (“fat around the middle”)
4. Poor diet
5. Lack of physical activity
6. Diabetes
7. Alcohol- more than 30 drinks / month OR binge drinking
8. Stress and/or depression
9. Heart disease
10. Increased apolipoproteins B to A1  ratio

Sounds like the list of risk factors for a LOT of health problems, so “cleaning up your list” might be one of the most important health measures you can take.

What to do to make your “list” more favorable? The “corrections” for the most part are obvious.

1. Get your blood pressure back to normal through natural, curative methods, not just with drugs.
2. Stop smoking.
3. Lose weight, especially belly fat. Hormone balancing and decreasing carbohydrates goes a long way toward correcting belly fat.
4. Eat a better diet. This means more “real” foods, like meat, eggs,vegetables and limited fruit, and less junk food and “empty calories” including simple carbohydrates.
5. Get moving! even 15 minutes per day of walking or other activity will help circulation.
6. Control diabetes. A ketogenic diet — “The Myatt Diet”— corrects type II diabetes in 3 months or less, predictably.
7. Watch your alcohol intake. This doesn’t mean you have to give up the booze, just don’t get carried away with the stuff. Thirty drinks a month is one drink per day if you need help with the math.
8. Do something positive for your emotions. Whether you take a tai chi or yoga class, walk your pooch in the park, have a good conversation with a friend, listen to good music — it is now “conventional wisdom” that yes, indeed, stress is a risk for heart disease and stroke. “Hallelulah, they (conventional medicine) have seen the Light”! And you should, too.
9. Work to correct any existing heart disease risks or medical conditions.
10. Ask your doctor to test your apo B and A1 levels. If he/she is unwilling to order these tests, you might want to go ahead and get them done yourself.

Reference

Risk factors for ischaemic and intracerebral haemorrhagic stroke in 22 countries (the INTERSTROKE study): a case-control study.The Lancet,  Volume 376, Issue 9735, Pages 112 – 123, 10 July 2010.

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