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Citrusfruit tegen een beroerte*
Uit een Amerikaanse studie onder bijna 70.000 vrouwen die 14 jaar lang gevolgd werden blijkt dat het regelmatig eten van citrusfruit de kans op een beroerte duidelijk doet afnemen. De deelnemers werden iedere 4 jaar gevraagd naar hun eetgewoontes en werd er vastgesteld en berekend hoeveel van de bioactieve stoffen flavanonen werd ingenomen. Flavanonen komen hoofdzakelijk voor in citrusfruit zoals grapefruits en sinaasappelen. De neelnemers met de hoogste inname aan flavanonen hadden wel 19% minder kans op een beroerte dan zij met de laagste inname. Een gemiddelde inname van flavanonen was nog goed voor 10% minder kans op een beroerte.
Dietary Flavonoids and Risk of Stroke in Women
1. Aedín Cassidy, PhD; 2. Eric B. Rimm, ScD; 3. Éilis J. O'Reilly, ScD; 4. Giancarlo Logroscino, MD, PhD; 5. Colin Kay, PhD; 6. Stephanie E. Chiuve, ScD; 7. Kathryn M. Rexrode, MD, MPH
+ Author Affiliations
1. From the Department of Nutrition (A.C., C.K.), Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK; the Departments of Nutrition (E.B.R., E.J.O., S.E.C.) and Epidemiology (E.B.R.), Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Channing Laboratory (E.B.R.), Department of Medicine, and the Division of Preventive Medicine (S.E.C., K.M.R.), Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; and the Department of Neurological and Psychiatric Sciences (G.L.), School of Medicine, University of Bari, Bari, Italy. 
1. Correspondence to Aedín Cassidy, PhD, Department of Nutrition, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. E-mail a.cassidy@uea.ac.uk
Abstract
Background and Purpose—To date, few studies have examined associations between the wide range of flavonoid subclasses and risk of ischemic, hemorrhagic, and total stroke. 
Methods—We conducted a prospective study among 69 622 women from the Nurses' Health Study. Total flavonoid and subclass intakes were calculated from semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires collected every 4 years using an updated and extended US Department of Agriculture flavonoid database. 
Results—During 14 years of follow-up, 1803 incident strokes were confirmed. After adjusting for potential confounders, women in the highest compared with the lowest quintile of flavanone intake had a relative risk of ischemic stroke of 0.81 (95% CI, 0.66–0.99; P=0.04). Citrus fruits/juices, the main dietary source of flavanones, tended to be associated with a reduced risk for ischemic stroke (relative risk, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.77–1.05) comparing extreme quintiles. 
Conclusions—Total flavonoid intake was not inversely associated with risk of stroke; however, increased intake of the flavanone subclass was associated with a reduction in the risk of ischemic stroke. Citrus fruit consumption may be associated with a reduction in stroke risk, and experimental data support these epidemiological associations that the flavanone content of citrus fruits may potentially be cardioprotective. Further prospective studies are needed to confirm these associations. (Maart 2012)