Eating salmon or other fatty fish at least once a week helped reduce mens risk of heart failure, according to a new study.
Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) followed 39,367 Swedish men between the ages of 45 and 79 from 1998 to 2004.
They found those who ate fatty fish (including herring, mackerel and salmon) once a week were 12 percent less likely to develop heart failure, compared with men who ate no fatty fish.
They furthermore noticed the men who consumed approximately 0.36 grams a day of marine omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in cod liver and other fish oils, were 33 percent less likely to develop heart failure.
“Previous research has demonstrated that fatty fish and omega-3 fatty acids help to combat risk factors for a range of heart-related conditions [by] lowering triglycerides, reducing blood pressure, heart rate and heart rate variability,” explains Dr. Emily Levitan, a research fellow in the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Center at BIDMC.
“Collectively, this may explain the association with the reduced risk of heart failure found in our study,” she adds.
She says the study, which has just been published in the European Heart Journal , reinforces the current guidelines from the American Heart Association which recommend eating fatty fish twice a week.
For those who may not get enough fish oil from their diet, nutritional health supplements may be a good alternative.