Saturday, 30 July 2011

A massive increase in animal fat consumption is associated with a large fall in death rates from strokes

This post includes a summary of a study published in Stroke Vol 13, 574-581 1982

Study title and authors:
Secular trends in mortality for cerebrovascular diseases in Japan, 1960 to 1979
H Tanaka, Y Tanaka, M Hayashi, Y Ueda, C Date, T Baba, H Shoji, T Horimoto and K Owada

This paper can be accessed at: http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/13/5/574.abstract

This paper examined the death rates from stroke in Japan and the change in dietary habits from 1960 to 1979.
 
The study found:
(a) Compared to 1960, deaths from stroke had reduced by over 40% in 1979.
(b) Compared to 1960, carbohydrate consumption had reduced by 21% in 1979.
(c) Compared to 1960, animal protein consumption had increased by 59% in 1979.
(d) Compared to 1960, animal fat consumption had increased by 333% in 1979.
 
To conclude: In 20 years deaths from stroke have decreased by 40%, whilst animal fat consumption has increased by 333% in Japan.