"Maybe the people who exercised less already had some infarcts and were less steady on their feet," he says.

We think exercise is protecting against the development of brain infarcts, and the hope is with lower risk of having these events, you'd also be at lower risk of dementia or stroke.

Treating those conditions is helpful, but often brain damage from multiple infarctions is not reversible.

A banana for breakfast, one for lunch and one in the evening would provide enough potassium to reduce the chances of suffering a blood clot on the brain by around 21 per cent.

It found that the regular consumption of some fish significantly reduces the risk of subclinical brain infarcts, or "silent strokes."