Study: Eating Fish Reduces Strokes

CHICAGO (AP) â€” Eating fish, even in modest amounts, can significantly reduce a woman's risk of the most common type of stroke, a major new study suggests. <br><br>The study of nearly 80,000 women

Friday, January 19th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

CHICAGO (AP) â€” Eating fish, even in modest amounts, can significantly reduce a woman's risk of the most common type of stroke, a major new study suggests.

The study of nearly 80,000 women found that eating fish was linked to reductions in the risk of ischemic, or clot-related, strokes, which account for about 83 percent of all strokes.

Women who ate about 4 ounces of fish two to four times weekly cut their risk of ischemic stroke by 48 percent. Slightly higher risk reductions were found in women who ate fish five or more times weekly, but there were relatively few women in that group.

Slight risk reductions were also found even in those who ate fish once a week or less.

Omega-3 fatty acids, found in most fish, have been shown to lower levels of blood fats linked to cardiovascular disease and to help keep blood from clotting. The fats are especially plentiful in dark, oily fish such as mackerel, salmon and sardines.

While previous research largely has focused on fish and heart disease, the new study is one of the few to examine the effect on stroke risk and to differentiate between types of strokes, said author Dr. Kathryn M. Rexrode of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

The findings appear in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Mounting evidence about the cardiovascular benefits of fish led the American Heart Association to include two servings of fish a week in its updated dietary recommendations last fall.

Some researchers have suggested that eating large amounts of fish might increase the risk of hemorrhagic strokes, which occur when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures and bleeds.

But the new study found that a regular diet of fish neither increased nor decreased the risk of this type of stroke, which accounts for about one-fifth of all strokes.

The researchers examined about 14 years of data on 79,839 participants in the Nurses' Health Study. The women were ages 34 to 59 in 1980. There were 574 strokes in the ensuing 14 years.

The researchers took into account the women's age and whether they smoked, factors that could affect stroke risk. But other factors, such as high blood pressure, were not included.

The findings thus ``don't exclude the fact that maybe there's a hidden association'' that might explain the results, said Dr. Lawrence M. Brass, a Yale University neurology professor and spokesman for the National Stroke Association.

A study released last week by the Food and Drug Administration said pregnant women and those who might become pregnant should not eat four types of fish â€” shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish â€” because they could contain enough mercury to hurt a fetus' developing brain.

Fish is widely considered part of a healthy diet. But some types of fish can harbor high amounts of mercury, an element found naturally in the environment and also a pollutant.

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On the Net:

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

American Heart Association: http://www.americanheart.org

National Stroke Association: http://www.stroke.org