Adherence to Mediterranean Diet Linked to Lower Stroke Risk in Women

MONDAY, Feb. 9, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Following a Mediterranean diet (MeDi) is associated with a lower risk for all types of stroke among women, according to a study published online Feb. 4 in Neurology Open Access.

Ayesha Z. Sherzai, M.D., from the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, and colleagues conducted a prospective cohort study composed of 133,477 women who were educators and administrators enrolled in 1995 to 1996 to examine the relationship between MeDi and stroke subtypes. Incident strokes were identified using linked California state hospitalization data and national death records from 1996 to 2020. Based on participants” response to the Block food frequency questionnaire at study baseline, the MeDi adherence score was calculated.

The final analytic cohort included 105,614 participants. The researchers found there were 4,083 incident stroke events (3,358 ischemic; 725 hemorrhagic) during the follow-up period (average, 20.5 years). Compared with those with MeDi scores of 0 to 2, those with scores of 6 to 9 had a lower risk for stroke in fully adjusted models for all stroke, ischemic, and hemorrhagic subtypes (hazard ratios, 0.82, 0.84, and 0.75, respectively).

“Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability, so it”s exciting to think that improving our diets could lessen our risk for this devastating disease,” coauthor Sophia S. Wang, Ph.D., of City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California, said in a statement. “Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and to help us understand the mechanisms behind them so we could identify new ways to prevent stroke.”

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