Strokes claim thousands of lives each year – how best can we prevent them and limit the damage they cause?

ROD Barnes was visiting his 86-year-old mum Edith last month, when she suddenly became ill.

He said: “She sat down in her chair and started to moan and touch the side of her face. She wasn’t speaking coherently and was having spasms in her arms and legs."

Rod suspected straight away it was serious and he needed to act quickly. "I called 999 as I thought she may be having a stroke and she soon developed facial droop and lost the feeling of her right side.”

Following a quick assessment, the ambulance crew took Edith to hospital where she was met by a specialist stroke nurse and stroke consultant and taken for a CT scan. She had suffered a severe stroke and was given the clot-busting drug tPA. After a spell in the stroke high dependency unit she started to make a good recovery. In the three weeks that has followed, Edith has almost fully regained her movement and speech and is back on a normal diet.

Although Rod is the chief executive of the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, he is not a medic. But he knew that quick action was vital. "I am not a clinician by background but I do know how important it is to quickly recognise the signs of stroke; my mum is a perfect example of that. If I hadn’t stopped to see her on the way home from work, recognised that she may have been having a stroke and called 999, she may not be here today."

Rod followed the procedures outlined in the Act Fast campaign. And the ambulance service is supporting a Public Health England campaign, run in conjunction with the Stroke Association, to raise awareness of the three main stroke symptoms.

The F.A.S.T. (Face, Arms, Speech, Time) acronym is a simple test to help people identify the most common signs of a stroke, and emphasises the importance of acting quickly by calling 999:

• Face – has their face fallen on one side? Can they smile?

• Arms – can they raise both arms and keep them there?

• Speech – is their speech slurred?

• Time to call 999.

There will be a publicity drive around this campaign, with TV and radio adverts and posters on buses.

While acting fast can be a life saver and prevent patients suffering the devastation that can follow a stroke, much can be done to reduce the risk of stroke, which is a leading cause of severe disability in adults and the third biggest killer in the UK.

Just this week, alarming figures were released showing that people are having strokes at a younger age: with the proportion of first-time strokes suffered by 40 to 69-year-olds rising from 33 per cent to 38 per cent.

Anna Kitt is a dietician in York and says regardless of your age or family history, a stroke doesn't have to be inevitable. "Age makes you more susceptible to a stroke, as does having a close relative who has had a stroke. You can't reverse the years or change your family history, but there are many more risk factors that you can control, and you can take steps to reduce your risk today."

Anna has more than 16 years of experience of working in the field of nutrition, both in the NHS, for a local authority and in the Department of Health. She now runs a weekly clinic at The York Clinic for Integrated Healthcare, Tadcaster Road. She says there are four key ways to reduce your risk of stroke. Firstly, lose weight, eat healthily and exercise more. Secondly, if you drink alcohol - do it in moderation. Thirdly, quit smoking, and fourthly, monitor your health, check your blood pressure and if you have diabetes make sure you attend your annual diabetes review with your GP.

Anna gives this advice:

Lose weight: eat healthy and exercise more

Obesity raises your odds of having a stroke. If you are overweight losing a small amount of weight (10lbs/ 4.5kg) and maintaining this weight loss can have a real impact on your risk of stroke.

A Mediterranean diet, which is a plant-based diet rich in fruits and vegetables and nuts, and low in fats, dairy and sweets can reduce the risk of stroke. Eating a diet lower in salt, will also reduce the risk as it prevents high blood pressure. Eating more fruits and vegetables will increase your intake of potassium - this helps to counteract the effect that salt has on blood pressure.

Reduce your intake of high salt foods, particularly processed foods which contain a lot of hidden salt. Our average salt intake is 8.6g per day, which is much higher than the maximum of 6g day.

Exercise contributes to losing weight and lowering blood pressure, and combined with a healthy diet it's the best way to maintain a healthy weight.

For most people, at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise, such as cycling or brisk walking, is recommended each week.

Alcohol

Excessive alcohol can lead to high blood pressure, and trigger an irregular heartbeat - both of which increase your risk of stroke.

Alcoholic drinks are high in calories, and can cause weight gain. Men and women are advised not to regularly drink more than 14 units a week, and this should be spread out over the week. What is 14 units? A bottle of wine contains roughly ten units (750mls); a large glass of wine (250mls) is three units; a bottle of lager 1.7 units.

Quit smoking

NHS Smoking Helpline can offer advice and encouragement to quit smoking. Call 0300 123 1044.

Monitor your health

High blood pressure is a hidden killer, and so monitoring your blood pressure is important. Healthy adults over the age of 40 should have their blood pressure checked at least every five years. High blood pressure is considered to be 140/90 mmHg. Cutting down on the salt in the diet will help to reduce high blood pressure – so read the food labels.

Find out more about Anna's services at authenticnutrition.co.uk