Health &
Nutrition
|
Eating Fish Cuts Blood Pressure and Fat
Researchers have presented the strongest evidence yet for eating fish, with a study showing it reduces blood pressure, cholesterol and one key blood fat even better than a healthy vegetarian diet.
This is the first time scientists have studied two populations that were almost identical except for their diets. Italian researchers studied more than 1,200 people in two East African villages that are only 60 km apart. Finding such a group was important because scientists didn't have to account for any other differences, such as smoking, alcohol or culture.
"To evaluate people eating fish with other people is very difficult because there are so many other differences," Santica Marcovina, a research professor of medicine at the University of Washington at Seattle, said Tuesday. "The Japanese, for example, are very lean. Americans, in general, aren't."
Both of the villages in Tanzania were populated by ethnic Bantus. One village is on the shore of a large lake, and residents' diet is heavy in fish, Marcovina said. The other village, separated from the lake by mountains, is populated by farmers who have no livestock and eat a vegetarian diet based on rice and maize. The two groups' lifestyles were very similar and both took in about 2,000 calories per day.
In addition to having slightly lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, the group which ate fish had 40 per cent lower levels of a specific heart-threatening fat. Scientists said this finding was particularly significant because this blood fat has been previously linked only to genetic factors. This study is the first to show that the substance, which is related to the harmful cholesterol LDL, can be strongly influenced by diet. Marcovina said there probably were no genetic differences between the two villages because intermarriage was common.
Marcovina said the study demonstrates eating fish would be beneficial for the general population. She said the Tanzanian fish were high in polyunsaturated fat (Omega-3 fatty acid), similar to salmon and other fatty fishes. Marcovina said the study points up the need for more study of fish oil supplements.
The research, so far; has been inconclusive. Scientists were unable to compare rates of heart attacks between the populations because there was almost no cardiovascular disease in the region. The Bantus have almost no risk factors for heart disease, and their life expectancy is only 43 years, scientists said.
Physicians, researchers and other scientists are meeting in Orlando for the 70th annual American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. About 35,000 people from around the world are attending the convention, which is one of the largest scientific meetings held each year.
|
|
 |
|
