Great stroke prevention advice from Consumer Reports

A good resource for Stroke Awareness Month, from Consumer Reports Health, includes a rundown on the latest guidelines for prevention:

"We still have quite a ways to go toward controlling stroke risk factors," says Larry B. Goldstein, M.D., chairman of the group of experts who wrote the new stroke prevention guidelines and director of the Duke Stroke Center in Durham, N.C. "More than two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese and don't get adequate exercise, and only about 7 percent of people age 40 to 59 succeed in meeting the goals for four major cardiovascular risk factors—cholesterol, blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, and smoking."

The guidelines, released online in December 2010, incorporate the latest research and advances in stroke prevention. Here are 11 effective strategies, including medical tactics to take and lifestyle adjustments to make.