Oranges help prevent stroke

If you are in favor of helping promote food that is worth eating, pass along this little "commercial" for the wonderful, edible orange.  It's from the HHS Healthbeat (a daily tip from US Department of Health & Human Services) :

Oranges help prevent the risk of stroke

People generally should eat more fruits and vegetables, and one study suggests a possible reason to have citrus on that menu. In collaboration with Harvard University, Aedin Cassidy at the University of East Anglia in England examined data on the risk of stroke in almost 70,000 U.S. nurses. She looked at what the women ate, especially forms of flavonoids, found in plants [and said that],

“Citrus flavonoids, called flavanones, seemed to be associated with a reduction in risk. So our data suggests that if you eat more citrus fruits, it may modestly reduce your risk of stroke.” 


Cassidy says more research is needed. But she does not recommend supplements, and she says whole fruits are best.

The study in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Some notes from me:  Many healthy-eating advocates believe that one reason more people don't eat fruits and vegetables is because there is no advertising campaign behind the humble, but genuine, food grown but not processed.

By and large, it's the pre-packaged and processed food that have advertising budgets and so that's what's top of mind for most people.  But if each of us would create our own "ad" campaign for real foods, maybe we could make a difference.  Maybe not. But really, does it hurt to try?