Keep
saying yes to fish twice a week for heart health
American
Heart Association Scientific Advisory
A new scientific advisory reaffirms the American Heart
Association’s recommendation to eat fish- especially those rich in Omega-3 fatty acids
twice a week to help reduce the risk of heart failure, coronary heart disease, cardiac arrest and the most common type of stroke (ischemic).
The advisory is published in the
American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.
“Since
the last advisory on eating fish was issued by the Association in 2002,
scientific studies have further established the beneficial effects of eating
seafood rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, especially when it replaces less healthy
foods such as meats that are high in artery-clogging saturated fat,” said Eric
B. Rimm, Sc.D., chair of the American Heart Association writing group and
professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of
Public Health in Boston.
The
Association recommends eating two 3.5-ounce servings of non-fried fish, or
about ¾ cup of flaked fish every week. Emphasis should be placed on eating oily
fish like salmon, mackerel, herring, lake trout, sardines or albacore tuna,
which are all high in omega-3 fatty acids.
The
advisory was written by a panel of nutrition experts, who also reviewed studies
about mercury in fish. Mercury is found in most seafood but is prevalent in
large fish such as shark, swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel, bigeye tuna,
marlin and orange roughy.
The
importance of environmentally sustainable fish farming techniques and other
topics are also briefly discussed in the advisory. A previously published
American Heart Association advisory on Omega-3 fish oil supplements noted that the supplements
are not recommended for the general public to prevent clinical cardiovascular
disease because of a lack of scientific evidence regarding any effect on
cardiovascular risk.
Co-authors
are Lawrence J. Appel, M.D., M.P.H.; Stephanie E. Chiuve, Sc.D.; Luc Djoussé,
M.D., M.P.H. Sc.D.; Mary B. Engler, Ph.D., R.N, M.S.; Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Ph.D.,
R.D.;
Dariush
Mozaffarian, M.D., Dr.PH.; David S. Siscovick, M.D., M.P.H.; and Alice H.
Lichtenstein, Sc.D.