Fish oils are the best defence against heart disease

Fish and omega-3 fish oils are the most powerful defences against heart disease – and they can help prevent a fatal heart attack in people with existing heart problems, even if they’ve had one attack already.

Eating oily fish such as salmon, sardine, trout and herring, and supplementing with omega-3 oils, can dramatically reduce your risk of developing a range of heart problems, such as atherosclerosis, arrhythmia, heart attack, and cardiac failure. 

And if you have had a heart attack, you reduce your risk of second one by 30 per cent by increasing your fish oil intake.

These findings are based on a major review of previous studies going back 30 years.  Head researcher Carl Lavie, of Oschner Medical Center in New Orleans, recommends that healthy people consume 500 mg of omega-3 fish oils, which contain EPA and DHA, every day, while those with an existing heart problem should double their daily intake to 1000 mg.

(Source: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2009: 54: 585-94).