STROKE & SIX - A - DAY.

What do orange juice, broccoli, cabbage, and collards have in common? They're among the fruits and vegetables that may best cut the risk of stroke, say researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Alberto Ascherio and colleagues studied more than 75,000 women who entered the Nurses' Health Study in 1980 and more than 38,000 men who entered the Health Professionals' Follow-up Study in 1986. By 1994, 366 of the women and 204 of the men had suffered an ischemic stroke, which usually occurs when a partially clogged artery feeding the brain gets blocked by a blood clot.

The people who consumed the most servings of fruits and vegetables (an average of five a day for men and six a day for women) had about a 30 percent lower risk of stroke than those who consumed less than three servings a day. The risk didn't drop further in people who ate more than six servings a day.

Most protected were people who ate cruciferous vegetables (like cauliflower or Brussels sprouts) or leafy green vegetables (like spinach or kale).

The advice to eat more fruits and vegetables doesn't apply only to people with high blood pressure, says Ascherio. "The association is not entirely explained by beneficial effects on blood pressure."

J. Amer. Med. Assoc. 282:1233, 1999.