Magnesium-rich diet lowers stroke risk

People who eat lots of magnesium-rich foods such as leafy green vegetables, nuts and beans have fewer strokes, according to an international analysis covering some 250,000 people. But the authors of the study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, stopped short of recommending people take a daily magnesium supplement because their analysis focused on magnesium in food — and it may be another aspect of the food that is responsible for their finding. "Dietary magnesium intake is inversely associated with risk of stroke, specifically ischaemic stroke," wrote lead author Susanna Larsson, a professor at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. For every extra 100 milligrams of magnesium a person ate per day, their risk of an ischaemic stroke — the most common kind, typically caused by a blood clot — fell by nine per cent.