HOUSTON:Cutting triglyceride building fatty food will be a good New Year resolution. A new study has found that having high levels of fat in blood increases risk for a major stroke.

People with high triglycerides and another type of cholesterol tested but not usually evaluated as part of an individual's risk assessment have an increased risk of a certain type of stroke, according to a research published in the December 26 online issue of Neurology , the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Stroke is 3rd leading cause of death in United States next to road accident and heart failure.

"LDL or 'bad' cholesterol has been the primary target for reducing the risk of stroke, but these results show that other types of cholesterol may be more strongly linked with stroke risk," said study author Bruce Ovbiagele, MD, of UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles and member of the American Academy of Neurology.

The researchers analysed the records of 1,049 people admitted to a university hospital with a stroke or mini-stroke over four years. Of those, 247 people had a large artery atherosclerotic stroke.

This is a type of ischemic stroke caused by blockage of blood flow to the brain. People with this type of stroke have blockage in the large arteries leading to the brain, the study said.

People with high triglycerides and elevated "non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol" were more likely to have a large artery atherosclerotic stroke than those with low levels of these fats in the blood, it added.