Weekly Serving of Fish Reduces Heart Risk

That finding of researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, arose from one of the largest studies to investigate the association.

First author Emily Levitan, a research fellow in the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Center at the medical center stated that, "Previous research has demonstrated that fatty fish and omega-3 fatty acids help to combat risk factors for a range of heart-related conditions, such as lowering triglycerides [fats in the blood], reducing blood pressure, heart rate and heart rate variability.... Collectively, this may explain the association with the reduced risk of heart failure found in our study."

A life-threatening condition that develops when the heart no longer can pump enough blood to meet the body's needs, heart failure (also known as congestive heart failure) usually results from existing cardiac conditions, including high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.

Symptoms such as fatigue and weakness, difficulty walking, rapid or irregular heartbeat, and persistent cough or wheezing characterize heart failure, the leading cause of hospitalization among patients 65 and older.

The researchers followed 39,367 Swedish men between 45 and 79 from 1998 to 2004. The researchers recorded details of the men's diet and tracked their outcomes through Swedish inpatient hospital registers and cause-of-death registers. During this period, 597 participants who had no previous history of heart disease or diabetes developed heart failure. Thirty-four died.

Analysis of their numbers showed that the men who ate fatty fish (herring, mackerel, salmon, whitefish, and char) once a week were 12 percent less likely to develop heart failure, compared with men who ate no fatty fish.

Levitan noted that, although this association did not reach statistical significance, they also found a statistically significant association with the intake of marine omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in cod liver and other fish oils: the men who consumed approximately 0.36 grams a day were 33 percent less likely to develop heart failure than the men who consumed little or no marine omega-3 fatty acids.

"Our study reinforces the current recommendations for moderate consumption of fatty fish.... Current guidelines from the American Heart Association recommend eating fatty fish twice a week. It will be important, going forward, to replicate these findings in other populations, particularly those including women, as our study looked at men only."

Reported in the online issue of the European Heart Journal, April 22, 2009