Study shows fish protects women against stroke

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Study shows fish protects women against stroke

 

 

BOSTON, MA, January 17, 2001 - The omega-3 fatty acids found in most

fish seem to protect women against the most common forms of stroke,

researchers at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital reported in

Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

 

 

Women can cut their risk of thrombotic stroke, which accounts for

between 40 and 50 per cent of all strokes, almost in half by eating

fish two to four times a week, the authors say.

 

" The clinical message I would boil down would be that women who had

a higher intake of fish had less stroke and that including fish as

part of a healthy diet would be something that you can do perhaps,

to help decrease your risk of stroke, " said co-author Dr. Kathryn

Rexrode, an internist.

 

The article suggests most fish, even shellfish, help reduce the risk

of what's called ischemic stroke, which is caused by a blood clot

that forms either in an artery in the brain (thrombotic stroke) or

elsewhere in the body (embolic stroke) and moves to the brain.

 

Ischemic strokes make up about 83 per cent of all strokes, which can

cause temporary or permanent brain damage, affecting speech, co-

ordination and movement.

 

Fish high in omega-3 fatty acids -- mackerel, alaskan salmon,

sardines (water-packed), bluefish -- offer the most protection,

Rexrode said from Boston.

 

The findings may cause confusion among consumers, coming as they do

closely on the heels of recommendations from both the Canadian and

U.S. governments that people restrict their intake of certain types

of fish because they contain high levels of mercury.

 

The fish named? Tuna (steaks, not canned), shark, king mackerel and

swordfish, a spokesman for Health Canada said.

 

John Salminen is the head of the chemical health hazard assessment

division of Health Canada's food directorate. He said people who

want to increase their fish intake should try to work a variety of

fish into their diets.

 

" Don't focus on the particular species that we raised concerns

about, " he said. " There are many other species out there that are

perfectly safe.

 

We have confidence in the supply of commercial fish sold in Canada

and those should be perfectly fine to consume. "

 

The fish and stroke study was led by Hiroyasu Iso of the Channing

Laboratory of Brigham and Women's, a teaching hospital affiliated

with Harvard Medical School. The study says nothing about whether

fish protects men against stroke because it is based on data from

the nurses' health study, a massive, long-term survey of nearly

80,000 female nurses from 11 U.S. states. Iso's team followed the

women from 1980 to 1994.

 

During that time, 574 strokes were documented. Of those, 303 were

ischemic strokes, 181 were hemorrhagic strokes (when blood vessels

in or around the brain break or hemorrhage) and 90 were strokes of

an undetermined nature.

 

When the researchers compared the diets of those women who had

strokes against those who did not, the benefits of a diet containing

fish became apparent.

 

Women who ate fish once a week were 22 per cent less likely to have

a stroke. Those who ate it between two and four times a week were 27

per cent less likely to have a stroke. And those who ate it five or

more times a week had their risk of stroke reduced by 52 per cent.

 

There was no evidence that fish consumption reduced the risk of

hemorrhagic stroke. The research team isn't sure what it is about

fish that protects against stroke, but they believe it is the omega-

3 fatty acids they contain.

 

Rexrode said test-tube studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids

inhibit platelet clotting or build up, which can lead to strokes.

 

-Source: The Canadian Press View abstract from the Journal of the

American Medical Association (JAMA)

 

View abstract online at: www.jama.ama-assn.org

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