Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Stroke Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet;Diabetes Article Date: 15 Aug 2013 - 8:00 PDT

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Scientists say they have discovered that the Mediterranean diet may prevent a genetic risk of stroke since it appears to interact with a particular gene variant usually associated with type 2 diabetes.

Researchers from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University, and the CIBER Fisiopatologa de la Obesidad y Nutricion in Spain, conducted the study, which was published in the journal Diabetes Care.

The research team analyzed 7,018 men and women involved in the Prevencion con Dieta Mediterranea (PREDIMED) trial. The trial, carried out over a 5-year period, looked at whether a Mediterranean or a low-fat controlled diet had an effect on the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and heart attack, and whether genetics played a part in this.

Prior to the trial, participants were also required to complete food frequency questionnaires, in order to see how closely participants followed a Mediterranean diet.

The study focused on a particular variant found in the Transcription Factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) gene. The variant is commonly involved in glucose metabolism and can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes. The researchers say this gene variant's link to heart disease has previously been unclear.

Around 14% of the PREDIMED participants were found to be homozygous carriers, meaning they possessed two copies of this gene variant.

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Mediterranean diet 'reduces genetic stroke risk'

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