Sticking to seven healthy habits may almost halve your risk of suffering a stroke, study claims

Sticking to seven healthy habits may almost halve your risk of suffering a stroke, a study suggests. 

Researchers at the University of Texas at Houston say maintaining a good diet and exercising regularly can even offset any genetic risk. 

The other key steps include not smoking and losing weight.

Experts followed 11,500 middle-aged adults in the US for nearly 30 years, watching how their lifestyle impacted their risk of stroke.

The habits, devised by the American Heart Association, are dubbed ‘Life’s Simple 7’.

Although listed as seven, there are only four modifiable factors. The other three — maintaining normal blood pressure, controlling cholesterol and reducing blood sugar — are knock-on effects of staying healthy.

Strokes affect more than 100,000 Britons annually claiming 38,000 lives — making it the UK’s fourth biggest killer and a leading cause of disability. 

Almost 800,000 people in the US are struck down each year, with 137,000 dying. 

Age, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, sedentary lifestyle and diabetes are all known to increase the risk of stroke. 

Another risk factor is family history of the condition, when a vessel is either blocked or bursts — cutting off blood supply to parts of the brain.

The study, in the Journal of the American Heart Association, tracked 11,568 adults aged 45 to 64 for an average of 28 years.

Participants were given a ‘stroke polygenic risk score’ — based on blood tests that identified mutations linked to the condition. This assessed how likely they were to suffer a stroke in their lifetime based on genetic factors.

Their medical records were also checked to see how well they followed the seven lifestyle habits.

Low cholesterol was scored based on whether and how much lipid lowering drugs — like statins — they were taking.

Blood pressure was also measured by what medications people were on, while blood sugar was scored based on whether they were being treated for diabetes.

Smoking status was recorded, BMIs showed bodyweight, diet was guessed with fruit and vegetable eating and physical activity was measured in minutes per week. 

Participants at most genetic risk and the worst heart health had the highest lifetime risk of suffering a stroke, at around 25 percent.

Those with the lowest polygenic risk scores had a lifetime risk of 9.6 per cent. People with an average score had a risk of 13.8 per cent. 

But for those who had practiced Life’s Simple 7 it fell by 30 to 43 percent, regardless of their level of genetic risk, analysis shows.

Following the practices also added up to nearly six more years of stroke-free life. 

Overall, the healthiest group saw the fewest stroke cases (6 per cent) while the most were in those who followed the habits least (57 per cent).

The findings offer hope of a screening program, according to lead author Professor Myriam Fornage, a geneticist at Texas University in Houston.

She said: ‘Our study confirmed modifying lifestyle risk factors, such as controlling blood pressure, can offset a genetic risk of stroke.

‘We can use genetic information to determine who is at higher risk and encourage them to adopt a healthy cardiovascular lifestyle, such as following the AHA’s Life’s Simple 7, to lower that risk and live a longer, healthier life.’