Fish for Women's Hearts
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 4:09AM
Eating plenty of heart-healthy fish can lower women's risk of heart failure - but only if it's cooked right. The benefit to cardiac health was seen in women who consumed five or more servings of fish a week compared to women who ate less than one serving of fish per month. These findings come from research that followed more than 84,000 postmenopausal women participating in the Women’s Health Initiative for an average of 10 years. The investigators found the method of preparing fish was just as important as the kind of fish eaten. Consuming even one serving of fried fish per week was linked to a 48 percent increase in the risk of heart failure among the women. The study suggested that the women who reported eating more baked and broiled fish (a recipe to try: Lemon Baked Halibut) tended to be healthier than women who ate fried fish. What's more, they were more physically active and fit, better educated, less likely to smoke and less likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. The study was published in the May 24, 2011 issue of Circulation: Heart Failure.
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Reader Comments (2)
This is important information for women's cardiovascular health, so thanks for posting. Having access to high quality fresh fish is not always so easy in my area. Are supplements of fish oil an even replacement for the real thing? Thank you.
This would be the logical thing, that anything fried is not so good. But we'd all be surprised to know how few individuals know and care to practice preference of baked/broiled fish. Very useful information indeed, especially for women above 40, this knowledge could really help improve their health.