Just 2 servings of this per week can help protect your heart

In a bit of good news for everyone’s heart, but perhaps bad news for our breaths, a new study finds eating oily fish regularly can help protect against cardiovascular disease. This holds especially true for people considered “high risk” for future cardiac episodes. 

Essentially, if you’ve already had a heart attack or stroke, it’s that much more important to pick up a few tins of sardines at the store.

Conducted at McMaster University, this study is the result of a comprehensive analysis of four earlier research projects spread across over 60 countries. In all, that dataset encompassed close to 192,000 people. Among that group, roughly 52,000 had already been diagnosed with a form of cardiovascular disease.

“This is by far the most diverse study of fish intake and health outcomes in the world and the only one with sufficient numbers with representation from high, middle and low income countries from all inhabited continents of the world,” says lead study co-author Dr. Salim Yusuf, professor of medicine at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and executive director of the PHRI.

It’s difficult to wrap one’s mind around, but someone living in the US dies every 36 seconds from cardiovascular disease. Similarly, an American suffers a heart attack roughly every 40 seconds. With all that in mind, a few extra pieces of salmon or trout each week doesn’t sound too unreasonable.

“There is a significant protective benefit of fish consumption in people with cardiovascular disease,” explains lead study co-author Andrew Mente, associate professor of research methods, evidence, and impact at McMaster and a principal investigator at the Population Health Research Institute.

“This study has important implications for guidelines on fish intake globally. It indicates that increasing fish consumption and particularly oily fish in vascular patients may produce a modest cardiovascular benefit,” he adds.

Why are oily fish so great for our hearts? Researchers say much of the benefits come down to omega-3 fatty acids. These essential fats can’t be produced by the human body alone, so they must be attained via food products. Omega-3 fatty acids help create the hormones responsible for the regulation of blood clotting, artery wall relaxation/contraction, and inflammatory responses. All of these functions likely contribute to the fatty acids’ cardiovascular benefits.

Two servings of oily fish per week were linked to a lower risk of suffering a major cardiovascular event (heart attack, stroke) among high-risk individuals. Even those considered low-risk when it comes to heart disease saw a less pronounced protective effect from oily fish consumption.

As far as which fish you should be adding to the menu, salmon is probably the most well-known and widely consumed oily fish. But, many other tasty fish fall under the oily category as well; trout, sardines, mackerel, sprats, herring, and pilchards. Sorry tuna lovers, both fresh and canned tuna are not considered oily fish.

The full study can be found here, published in JAMA Internal Medicine.