Fish Fights Heart Disease

Fish Combats Heart Disease

Toss some salmon into the shopping cart the next time you’re stocking up and cut your risks for heart disease in half. Diets high in omega-3 fatty acids, found in cold water fishes and other plant sources, are known to cut heart disease risks.

The latest research reported in Hypertension, the American Heart Association journal, looked at women ages 15-49 and found that those who ate at least 2 fish meals a week had the greatest protection against heart disease. Women who rarely or never ate fish had risks up by as much as 90%. The most common fish consumed by women in the study were cod, salmon, herring, and mackerel.

Marin Strøm, PhD, lead researcher and post doctoral fellow at the Centre for Fetal Programming, at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, said: “Our study shows that for younger women, eating fish is very important for overall health, and even though we found cardio-protective effects at relatively modest dietary levels, higher levels may yield additional benefits.”

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that, in a week, pregnant people eat at least 8 ounces (224 grams) and up to 12 ounces (340 grams) of a variety of seafood lower in mercury. That’s about 2 to 3 servings a week.

For guidelines on safe consumption of seafood in pregnancy, read our article Fish Please!

AUTHOR

AWHONN Editorial Staff