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Women of all ages should pay more attention to the risk of stroke than the average man, watching their blood pressure carefully even before they think about taking birth control pills or getting pregnant, according to a new set of guidelines released Thursday. Women are also more likely to have risk factors associated with stroke, such as migraines, depression, diabetes and abnormal heart rhythm known as atrial fib- rillation. The new guidelines from the American Heart Associ- ation were the first such rec- ommendations to prevent strokes in women. Stroke is the fourth-leading cause of death for all Americans but the third-leading cause of death for women, after heart disease and cancer. Women share many of the same risk factors as men for stroke, but they also have unique risks that come with pregnancy complica- tions and hormone use, said Cheryl Bushnell, associate professor of neurology at Wake Forest Baptist Med- ical Center in Winston- Salem, N.C., who led a group of experts that devel- oped the guidelines. Previous guidelines about cardiovascular pre- vention in women have included some information about stroke. "But it was buried in there," said Bush- nell, who has been studying the topic for more than a decade. "We wanted to take topics that are really women-specific and emphasize stroke and put it all in one guideline." The recommendations, published in the journal Stroke, emphasize the importance of controlling blood pressure, especially in young women. They are aimed at a broader age range than most recommen- dations. "We're talking about being aware of blood pres- sure before you ever take birth control medication, being aware of blood pres- sure before you even get pregnant," Bushnell said. A stroke occurs when the blood supply to the brain is blocked or when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures, causing brain tissue to die. The signs of stroke in women are similar to those in men, including face drooping, sudden numbness or weakness of the arm, and difficulty with speech or trouble understanding. But symptoms in women may be more vague or subtle, Bushnell said. Women are more likely to have a change in their consciousness or their ability to communicate with people, she said. An estimated 6.8 million people in the United States are living after having had a stroke, including 3.8 million women, according to statis- tics from the American Heart Association. Each year, more than half of the estimated 800,000 people who have a stroke each year are women. As women increasingly outlive men, their lifetime risk of stroke becomes high- er. Women are also more likely to be living alone and widowed after suffering a stroke, and are more likely to be institutionalized, research shows. "As the baby boomer generation ages, more peo- ple are at risk for stroke, and women in particular as they enter their 50s, 60s and 70s," said Alex Dromerick, a neurology professor at Georgetown University. "Women are more adversely affected by stroke than men," according to the guidelines. "Now more than ever, it is critical to identify women at higher risk for stroke and initiate the appropriate prevention strategies." In some instances, the recommendations call for common-sense precautions that doctors and consumers should already be doing. In others, the recommenda- tions are more specific. Among the guidelines: — "Women should be screened for high blood pressure before taking birth control pills because the combination raises stroke risks." — "Women with a histo- ry of high blood pressure before pregnancy should be considered for low-dose aspirin and/or calcium sup- plement therapy to lower preeclampsia risk." — "Women who have preeclampsia have twice the risk of stroke and a four-fold risk of high blood pressure later in life. Therefore, preeclampsia should be rec- ognized as a risk factor well after pregnancy." Preeclampsia and eclampsia are blood pres- sure disorders during preg- nancy that cause major complications, including stroke during or after deliv- ery, premature birth, and risk for stroke well after child-bearing. Preeclampsia is characterized by high blood pressure and high protein levels in the urine, and when seizure also occurs, is called eclampsia, according to the American Heart Association. The guidelines also rec- ommend that women who have migraine headaches with aura — such as blink- ing lights or moving dots — stop smoking to avoid high- er stroke risks. Women over age 75 should also be screened for atrial fibrilla- tion. But one that could be controversial recommends treating pregnant women with moderately high blood pressure (150 to 159 mmHg/100 to 109 mmHg) with blood pressure med- ication. That goes against recommendations by the American College of Obste- tricians and Gynecologists, Bushnell said. "We are going out on a limb," she said." We don't want women to develop severe blood pressure, and that has to be weighed with risks for the mom and the baby." *** New guidelines were issued Thursday by the American Heart Associa- tion/ American Stroke Association to prevent strokes in women. Women have more strokes than men, and stroke kills more women than men. Some do's and don'ts for stroke prevention: DO — Get your blood pres- sure checked before taking birth control pills. — Talk to your doctor about taking blood pressure medication if you're preg- nant and have moderately high blood pressure. — If you're over 75, get screened for atrial fibrilla- tion, the most common type of irregular heart rhythm. — Exercise regularly. — Eat a diet full of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, olive oil and foods low in saturated fats DON'T — Smoke, especially if you get migraine headaches with aura. — Eat high-salt foods. — Drink too much alco- hol 4A Daily News – Tuesday, February 11, 2014 Lic#8981 Lic#7575 20 Antelope Blvd. Red Bluff 530-527-2403 ears4u@outlook.com February is 28 days to better hearing health Stop by for free info on how you can protect your ears We will also be offering free hearing instrument evaluations all month Check out our website at www.myears4u.com www.lassenmedical.com lassenmedical.com 2450 Sister Mary Columba Drive Red Bluff, CA 96080 530 527-0414 Lassen Medical For the Expected, Unexpected and Everything in Between Vitality health&fitness Women any age face higher risk of stroke Yogurt may be an ally in fight against diabetes Eating yogurt can reduce the risk of getting type 2 dia- betes by 28 percent, compared with consuming none, according to a study published Thursday by Diabetologia. Higher consumption of low-fat fermented dairy products, such as yogurt and some cheeses, also lowered the relative risk of diabetes by 24 percent overall, the study showed. Dairy products are an important source of proteins, vita- mins and minerals such as calcium. They also contain satu- rated fat, which shouldn't be consumed in high quantities, according to current dietary guidelines. Previous studies analyzing possible links between their consumption and diabetes had inconclusive findings, the researchers said. "Specific foods may have an important role in the pre- vention of type 2 diabetes, and are relevant for public health messages," lead scientist Nita Forouhi, from the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, said in a statement. Diabetologia is the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. The market for dairy products is big money for compa- nies including Danone, the world's biggest yogurt maker, and Nestle, the producer of Carnation milk products. Changing perceptions about nutritional value may help boost sales. Dairy product revenue, estimated at $463.7 billion in 2013, is expected to grow by more than 46 percent through 2018, with the greatest gain, in percentage terms, in the Middle East and Africa, according to Euromonitor esti- mates. Diabetes kills one person every six seconds and afflicts 382 million people worldwide, according to the Interna- tional Diabetes Federation. Some diabetics, suffering from Type 1 diabetes, have a lifelong inability to produce insulin. The Type 2 variant tends to strike later in life, brought on by obesity and sedentary lifestyles, as people become resistant to the insulin their own body produces. The latest research was based on the EPIC-Norfolk study, which includes more than 25,000 men and women living in Norfolk, England. It compared daily records of food and drink consumption among 753 people who devel- oped type 2 diabetes over 11 years of follow-up with 3,502 randomly selected study participants, according to the state- ment. Researchers analyzed the risk of diabetes in relation to consumption of total and individual dairy products. "There have been several meta analyses putting together all the studies on dairy and type 2 diabetes recently and the data is mixed, but overall they show protection from various forms of dairy including yogurt," Peter Clifton, head of the Nutritional Interventions Laboratory at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, said in a separate statement. '