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Eating smoked and processed meats can damage your heart in two dangerous ways.

Few things feel more terrifying and random than a stroke, which can strike without warning. And fear of stroke — when a blood vessel in or leading to the brain bursts or is blocked by a blood clot, starving brain cells of oxygen and nutrients — is well founded. After all, stroke is the number-three killer in the U.S., affecting more than 700,000 people each year. Here are five foods that cause the damage that leads to stroke.

Read more: 5 Foods That Can Trigger a Stroke

Women who enjoy a daily dose of coffee may like this perk: It might lower their risk of stroke.

Women in a Swedish study who drank at least a cup of coffee everyday had a 22 to 25 percent lower risk of stroke, compared to those who drank less coffee or none at all.

“Coffee drinkers should rejoice,” said Dr. Sharonne N. Hayes, a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “Coffee is often made out to be potentially bad for your heart. There really hasn’t been any study that convincingly said coffee is bad.”

“If you are drinking coffee now, you may be doing some good and you are likely not doing harm,” she added.

Read more: Study: Coffee tied to lower stroke risk in women

A food often considered beneficial may be contributing to these states’ serious health issues.

Too much fried fish may contribute to the high rate of stroke in America’s “stroke belt,” according to a new study.

The results showed that people living in the stroke belt – including residents of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana – were about 30 percent more likely to eat two or more servings of fried fish every week than those living in the rest of the country, the researchers said.

Read more: ‘Stroke Belt’ Mystery: Fried Fish Linked to Higher Death Rate

LONDON – The Easter Bunny might lower your chances of having a heart problem. According to a new study, small doses of chocolate every day could decrease your risk of having a heart attack or stroke by nearly 40 per cent.

German researchers followed nearly 20,000 people over eight years, sending them several questionnaires about their diet and exercise habits.

They found people who had an average of six grams of chocolate per day – or about one square of a chocolate bar – had a 39 per cent lower risk of either a heart attack or stroke. The study is scheduled to be published Wednesday in the European Heart Journal.

Read more: Study: A small dose of chocolate could cut heart attack or stroke risk by almost 40 per cent

Also see BBC’s Chocolate ‘can cut blood pressure and help heart’