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 But this isn't a prescription for fish and chips. The new scientific
advisory reaffirms the American Heart Association's recommendations
against fried fish and stresses the benefits of eating two 3.5-ounce
servings a week of fish, especially oily varieties rich in omega-3
fatty acids.
And for many people who tend to follow a typical Western diet -
heavy on meat and potatoes and light on fruit, vegetables and whole
grains - these recommendations should serve as a reminder that it's
time to start eating fish, said the advisory's lead author Eric Rimm
of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
"We don't expect diets of all Americans to change overnight, but we
do hope that individuals will consider upping their fish intake a
little and, even more importantly, that the next generation - those
of grade school, high school or college age - make fish a normal
part of their diet," Rimm said by email.
Previous research has linked omega-3 fatty acids to a lowered risk
of abnormal heartbeats, less fats in the blood, reduced risk of
artery-clogging deposits known as plaque and slightly lower blood
pressure, Rimm and his colleagues write in the journal Circulation.
In the scientific advisory, the authors note that eating at least
two weekly servings of fish - especially those with lots of omega-3
fatty acids - can help lower the risk of heart failure, coronary
heart disease, cardiac arrest and the most common type of stroke.
Doctors also tackled one factor that has steered some people away
from eating fish - fears about mercury contamination. Mercury is
found in most seafood but is most concentrated in large fish such as
shark, swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel, bigeye tuna, marlin and
orange roughy.
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Pregnant women are advised to avoid these varieties of fish because
of links to serious neurological problems in babies.
But the advisory notes that mercury contamination does not increase
the risk of heart disease in adults and that the benefits of eating
fish outweigh any risks associated with mercury, especially when
people eat a wide variety of seafood.
Fish is also one small part of a healthy diet. For optimal heart
health, people should exercise regularly and follow the Dietary
Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet or a Mediterranean-style
diet, the doctors recommend. Both diets emphasize cooking with
unsaturated fats, eating nuts, fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy
products, whole grains, fish and poultry, and limiting red meat and
added sugars and salt.
Ideally, people will add fish to their diet by consuming less of
unhealthy options like red meat, said Dr. Francesco Sofi of the
University of Florence and Careggi University Hospital in Florence,
Italy.
"Of course, it's important to emphasize also the way to consume fish
because different studies have clearly reported that when the same
fish is cooked fried compared to grill or to the oven, the
beneficial effect disappears," Sofi, who wasn't involved in the
study, said by email.
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2IxN5An Circulation, online May 17, 2018.
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