Health &
Nutrition
|
Fish Diet Saves Lives of Coronary Patients
Jane Brody, N.Y. Times News Service - While the effects of fish oil supplements on the heart remain in dispute, the regular consumption of fish itself continues to show life-prolonging benefits. Doctors say that simply eating fish at least twice a week has again been shown to be beneficial, even in people who have advanced heart disease.
The most recently published study bearing this out was conducted in Wales among more that 2,000 patients who had suffered one heart attack. Those who were advised to eat fish at least twice a week were significantly less likely to die in the next two years than were similar patients who were advised simply to either resume dietary fat or to increase their consumption of fibre-rich grains, the study found.
Although those who ate fish had at least as many second heart attacks as other participants in the study, the rate of death was greatly reduced. The overall reduction in mortality from all causes was 29 per cent for those advised to eat fish, as against no benefit in the group advised to reduce fat in the diet and a slight increase in mortality among those urged to eat more fibre.
The study, published in the Sept. 30 issue of The Lancet, a British medical journal, is part of continuing research being conducted at the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit in Cardiff and the West Wales Hospital in Carmarthen under Dr. M.L. Burr.
The authors noted the study was not a true test of the effectiveness of a low-fat diet to reduce blood cholesterol. Those told to lower their fat intake did not eat significantly less fat than other participants. Furthermore, prior research has shown the benefits of lowering the cholesterol levels in the blood do not show up until after almost two years.
Dr. Alexander Leaf, chairman of preventive medicine at the Harvard Medical School, who is an expert on the effects of fish oils, said the Welsh study is the first to confirm experimentally what others observed when examining the diets of people with and without fatal coronary disease.
Previous studies had shown regular fish-eaters had lower coronary mortality rates than people who rarely or never ate fish. But studies in which fish oil capsules were used have yielded conflicting results, with some showing a benefit and others no effect.
Leaf said the oils in fish, omega-3 fatty acids, seem to protect the heart from developing abnormal and often fatal rhythms following a blockage of blood flow to the heart muscle. In addition to this benefit, which can show up within weeks of increased fish consumption, Leaf said that over a longer period fish oils may help prevent atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a build-up of cholesterol and other substances in the arteries that can eventually seriously narrow or even close off blood flow to the heart.
The kinds of fish that contain the largest amounts of the beneficial oils live primarily in deep, cold ocean waters. High levels of omega-3 fatty acids have been found in herring, sardines, eels, halibut, sablefish, salmon, tuna, mackerel, lake trout, bluefish and spiny dogfish.
|
|
 |
|
