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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Consuming foods rich in linoleic acid (omega-6)--a fatty acid found in flax, corn, sunflower and safflower oils and soybeans--may protect a person from the most common type of stroke, new study findings suggest.

Ischemic strokes, which occur when a clot or narrowed artery cuts off the blood supply to part of the brain, account for about 80% of all strokes. The other 20% are due to broken blood vessels in the brain and are called hemorrhagic strokes.

Lead author Dr. Hiroyasu Iso of the University of Tsukuba in Ibaraki-ken, Japan, and colleagues followed 7,450 men and women aged 40 to 85 for a period of 6 to 14 years. At the start of the study each person answered questions about their daily food intake and gave a blood sample that was later evaluated for levels of linoleic acid.

At the end of the study period, 122 people had an ischemic stroke and 75 had hemorrhagic strokes, according to the report published in the August issue of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

"The major finding of the present study was that (levels of blood) linoleic acid (omega-6) was inversely associated with the risk of total stroke, ischemic stroke and more specifically lacunar infarction"--a type of stroke that involves small arteries deep in the brain, according to Iso and colleagues.

The investigators report that a 5% increase in consumption of linoleic acid was associated with a 28% decrease in total stroke risk, a 34% decrease in ischemic stroke, a 37% reduction in lacunar stroke and a 19% reduction in hemorrhagic stroke.

Iso's team notes that linoleic acid may decrease blood pressure and reduce the blood's ability to "stick" together, or form clots.

"This finding implies the potential importance of dietary intake of linoleic acid for the prevention of ischemic stroke. A clinical trial is necessary to confirm the causality between linoleic acid intake and risk of ischemic stroke," the authors conclude.