Studies support heart-healthy status of fish oils

Two studies this week reaffirm that fish oils are good for you.

Fish oils are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are thought to protect against heart disease and cancer.

One ongoing study looked at almost 85,000 female nurses who ate fish two to four times a week. When the researchers tracked the women for 16 years, they found the fish eaters cut their risk of developing or dying from heart disease compared to women who rarely ate fish.

"These observational data cannot prove that fish consumption causes a reduction in (coronary heart disease) risk," the researchers wrote.

But they added the effect was seen after correcting for other dietary and lifestyle factors, and their findings support earlier studies that found a link between lower risk of heart disease in men who ate fish.

The participants in the Nurses' Health Study were all aged 34 to 59 and had no signs of heart disease when the study began.

Dr. Frank Hu, a nutrition professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, led the women's study. It was published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Hu's team found eating fish reduced the risk of nonfatal heart attacks and protected against sudden death from heart failure.

Hu said omega-3 fatty acids work by preventing clotting and by preventing irregular heartbeats.

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And a second study added to the growing body of evidence that men gain from eating fish oils, too.

The Physicians' Health Study is an ongoing look at 22,000 male doctors that began in 1982. None of the participants had any known heart problems when the study began.

The study on 94 men was led by cardiologist Dr. Christine Albert, who is also an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Albert's study found those with the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood were more than 80 per cent less likely to die from heart disease.

The men's study appears in Thursday's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada recommends people eat at least two to three servings of fish a week.