Go ahead, have that cup of coffee. Turns out a morning cup of joe could cut your risk of stroke.

In a 10-year Swedish study, healthy women who drank 1 or more cups of coffee a day enjoyed about a 25% drop in stroke risk compared with the women who drank less than a cup a day. Fill 'er up?

A Brain-Shielding Brew
The recent java news is no reason to start a coffee habit if you don't already have one. And some people — like those with high blood pressure or sensitivity to the stuff — definitely need to be wary of caffeine.

But for the rest of us, coffee may very well be worthy of inclusion on our lists of health foods. Researchers think that the inflammation-cooling antioxidants in the brew may help protect the lining of blood-vessel walls from damage — the kind that leads to plaque buildup and dangerous-for-the-brain clots.

A Little Goes a Long Way
So does that mean more coffee offers even better protection?  Nope. At least not according to this study. The women who drank 2, 3, or more cups a day experienced no greater protection from stroke than the women who drank just 1 cup daily.  So there's no good reason to turn into a full-blown java junkie. 

Whether you're a man or a woman, you'll want to take to heart these other stroke-reducing habits:

• Eat the right kind of fat. Cut your risk of stroke by one-third just by choosing this for dinner: fish.  But here's the real catch: You've got to choose it three times per week. In a Swedish study, women who ate fish at least 3 nights a week enjoyed as much as a 33% lower risk of stroke during the 10-year follow-up period.  Can't eat fish that many times?  Take your daily Fish Oil capsules!  And make sure they are of the highest quality.
• Choose to move.  So, how many walks do you need to take this week to make a big dent in your stroke risk? Just a handful of 30-minute hikes could have a major impact.  In a study, women who walked at least 2 hours a week — think 30-minute walk, four times — were 30% less likely to suffer a stroke compared with nonwalkers.  In the 12-year study, walking pace also played a role in preventing strokes. It paid to focus on more than just a leisurely stroll. In fact, being able to cover 1 mile in 20 minutes was ideal. Women who averaged this pace had a 37% lower risk of stroke compared with the nonwalkers.
• Lick that salt habit. You may only need to cut a mere half teaspoon of salt from your diet to see a benefit to your heart and brain.  In a dramatic new study, researchers estimate that cutting out just 3 grams a day (about half a teaspoon of salt) could prevent up to 99,000 heart attacks and 66,000 strokes a year.   So what's half a teaspoon? It's the amount most of us probably put in our pasta water. Still, it's unlikely that your pasta water is putting you over the limit. Research suggests we get up to 75% of our daily salt intake from processed foods and restaurant meals. In fact, processed and packaged foods have so much sodium that most of us end up eating 8 to 11 grams of salt a day — more than twice what's recommended.
  
  
• Kick them butts.  Stop smoking.  Stop being around any kind of second hand smoke.  Don't go to places that allow smoking.  Don't allow smoking any where near you.