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Don't go overboard on oily fish say experts

24 April 2009

These researchers set out to find a connection between how much oily fish people eat and their risk of getting heart failure, but they were unable to find one.

Dr Virginia Warren, Assistant Medical Director, Bupa

Eating moderate amounts of oily fish may help to protect men from serious heart failure, a new study has found. However, eating too much of these types of fish may have the opposite effect, researchers claim.

Scientists from the USA and Sweden followed the health of almost 40,000 Swedish men aged 45 to 79 between 1998 and 2004. Each man filled out a food questionnaire at the start of the study and the researchers then tracked their health through Swedish hospital inpatient records and death registers.

They observed that men who ate one weekly portion of oily fish were 12 percent less likely to develop serious heart failure compared to men who rarely or never ate oily fish. However, the researchers were surprised to find that men who ate two or more servings of oily fish had the same risk of heart failure as men who ate very little or none. But, on closer examination of the results, the differences reported were so small that they prove nothing.

Dr Virginia Warren, Assistant Medical Director, Bupa, said: "These researchers set out to find a connection between the amount of oily fish people eat and their risk of getting heart failure, but they were unable to find one. This may have been due to chance, or down to some aspects of the way the research was conducted, or it may have been because there truly is no connection between the two things."

Victoria Taylor, Senior Dietician at the British Heart Foundation, gave the following advice: "There's no need to go overboard on oily fish. Whilst the links between coronary heart disease and oily fish are well established, eating more than the recommended amount of fish oils or taking supplements is unlikely to have any additional health benefits (unless prescribed by your doctor)."

Key facts
  • Oily fish include herring, mackerel, salmon, sardines, whitebait and char.
  • Omega 3 fatty acids are found in cod livers and fish oils.
  • The Food Standards Agency recommends that girls, women wanting to have children, pregnant women or women who are breastfeeding only eat two portions of oily fish a week. This is because of the low levels of pollutants that can build up in the body. Boys, men and older women can eat up to four portions a week. A portion is approximately 140g.

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