A Senior Physician Specialist at the 37 Military Hospital, Dr Thomas Agbemaple, has disclosed that a significant proportion of stroke cases reported at health facilities are linked to lifestyle choices, particularly dietary habits.
According to him, eight out of every ten people who suffer a stroke experience the ischaemic form of the condition, which occurs when a blood vessel supplying the brain becomes blocked.
Dr Agbemaple said the increasing consumption of foods high in fats and oils is contributing to the accumulation of cholesterol in blood vessels, thereby increasing the risk of ischaemic stroke.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, August 26, he explained that there are two major types of stroke, namely haemorrhagic stroke and ischaemic stroke.
He said haemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures, while ischaemic stroke occurs when a blood vessel becomes blocked, preventing adequate blood supply to parts of the brain.
“There are two types of stroke. There is a stroke resulting from a blood vessel rapturing called Hemorrhagic Stroke and there is stroke resulting from a blood vessel being blocked called Ischemic stroke. Now, 8 out of 10 people who have a stroke will have an ischaemic stroke, that is blood clogging in the vessels.
“Ischaemic stroke is cholesterol deposition in the walls of the blood vessels and this is a lifestyle problem.
The cholesterol comes from oils and fats in your diet so to the point that our diets these days have been increasingly westernised with high oil and fat content, the incidence of cholesterol deposition in the walls of the blood vessels is now increasing at alarming rates. People’s diets are now heavily laden with fats and oils. We eat a lot of fried foods.”
