Can Eating Fish Lower Your Stroke Risk?

A new international study suggests that people who eat fish a couple of times a week are less likely to have a stroke than those who only eat it sparingly, or not at all. The reason? Omega-3. Omega-3 fatty acids lower stroke risk through their positive results on lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. Fish also contains other nutrients, vitamins and proteins that can prove beneficial for overall health.

The study was written by Susanna Larsson and Nicola Orsini, affiliated with Sweden's Karolinska Institute in the journal Stroke. They analyzed 15 studies originally conducted in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The study asked participants how regularly they ate fish and then followed up with them between four and thirty years to find out which ones had suffered a stroke and which ones were at reduced risk of suffering one.

"I think overall, fish does provide a beneficial package of nutrients, in particular the omega-3s, that could explain this lower risk," explained Dariush Mozaffarian, from the Harvard School of Public Health and an epidemiologist whose research was included in the study. He continued, "A lot of the evidence comes together suggesting that about two to three servings per week is enough to get the benefit."

Other nutrients included in fish are also beneficial, such as Vitamin D, selenium, and various types of proteins.

The study analyzed almost 400,000 people, ranging in age from 30 to 103. Roughly 9,400 had had a stroke of the participants of the survey. Those who had at least three servings of fish each week saw a 6% drop in their risk of stroke. The people who ate the most fish were 12% less likely to have a stroke than those who did not eat fish.

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