Health &
Nutrition
|
Eating Fish Lowers Cardiac Arrest Risk
The Associated Press (Chicago) - The latest study to explore the slippery question of whether eating fish reduces the risk of heart disease found it does - in modest quantities and for a certain type of the illness.
The study found that people who ate the equivalent of 85 g of salmon a week were only half as likely to be stricken with cardiac arrest as those who ate no fish. Results are published in the latest Journal of the American Medical Association.
The findings may seem to conflict with a well-publicized study this spring by Harvard researchers, who found that men who ate fish several times a week were just as likely to have heart trouble as those who ate fish once a month. "(But) we view these results as complementary and not in conflict with earlier findings," said the lead author of the new study, Dr. David D. Siscovick of the University of Washington in Seattle.
The studies differed in two key ways, Siscovick said. The Seattle study focused on cardiac arrest rather than overall heart disease, which was the chief concern of the Harvard study. Also, it explored the value of eating some fish compared with eating none, rather than the Harvard report's focus on eating more versus eating less.
In the new study, "modest" amounts of seafood containing two key omega-3 oils were sufficient. The oils are unique to fish, and are especially plentiful in salmon, herring, mackerel and anchovies.
No one knows why omega-3 oils might prevent cardiac arrest, but one theory is that they may help regulate the movement of certain chemical compounds in and out of cells. Cardiac arrest is different from a heart attack. In a heart attack, a blocked artery prevents the heart muscle from getting enough blood, and part of it dies. Most victims survive.
In cardiac arrest, the problem is a scrambling of electrical impulses that regulate the heart's rhythm. Instead of beating, the heart just quivers. Most victims die.
|
|
 |
|
