Can grapefruit stop stroke? Grapefruit and oranges “appear to
protect against having a ‘brain attack’”, the Daily Mail has
reported. The Mail says that these and other citrus fruits can
protect the brain from stroke due to their antioxidant content.
The research behind this story involved almost 70,000 women
taking part in the Nurses’ Health Study in the US. They were
asked to complete food frequency questionnaires (which asked
them to recall how frequently certain foods were consumed during
a specified period of time) every four years and over around 14
years of follow-up the researchers documented the numbers of
strokes that occurred, overall and by type. The researchers
found that women who had the highest intake of flavanone (a
crystalline compound found in citrus fruit) had a reduced risk
of ischaemic stroke. However, they found no association between
consuming actual citrus fruits and juices and being at risk of
ischaemic stroke, and no association between consumption of
flavonoids overall and risk of s