Heart-Healthy Eating: Fish-Topic Overview
As part of a healthy diet, eat at least two servings of fish each week. Oily fish, which contain omega-3 fatty acids, are best. These fish include salmon, mackerel, lake trout, herring, and sardines.
If you cannot eat fish, you can also get omega-3 fats from omega-3 eggs, walnuts, flax seeds, and canola oil.
Do not take fish-oil or omega-3 fatty acid supplements to lower your risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Research has not shown that these supplements lower risk.1
Fish is an important part of a heart-healthy diet. A heart-healthy diet is not just for people who have existing health problems. It is good for all healthy adults and children older than age 2. Learning heart-healthy eating habits now can help prevent problems in years to come. Eating a heart-healthy diet can help you to:
Eating fish may help lower your risk of coronary artery disease.
In people who have heart problems, omega-3 fatty acids may help lower their risk of death.
Omega-3 fatty acids also lower the risk of sudden cardiac death and abnormal heartbeats.
Try to eat omega-3 fatty acids in foods like fish.
Eating more than two servings of fish a week can lower your risk for stroke or TIA. Oily fish (such as salmon, mackerel, and herring) lowers your risk more than other types of fish.2
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommend that women who may become pregnant, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children should not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish, because these fish have higher mercury concentrations. But for middle-aged and older people, the protection fish offer the heart outweighs the risks of eating these fish. Eating a variety of fish may reduce the amount of mercury you eat.3, 4
If you cannot eat fish, you can also get omega-3 fats from omega-3 eggs, walnuts, flax seeds, and canola oil.
Do not take fish-oil or omega-3 fatty acid supplements to lower your risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Research has not shown that these supplements lower risk.1
Fish as part of a heart-healthy diet
Fish is an important part of a heart-healthy diet. A heart-healthy diet is not just for people who have existing health problems. It is good for all healthy adults and children older than age 2. Learning heart-healthy eating habits now can help prevent problems in years to come. Eating a heart-healthy diet can help you to:
- Lower your blood pressure.
- Lower your cholesterol.
- Reach and stay at a healthy weight.
- Prevent or control diabetes.
- Improve your overall health.
Heart diseases
Eating fish may help lower your risk of coronary artery disease.
In people who have heart problems, omega-3 fatty acids may help lower their risk of death.
Omega-3 fatty acids also lower the risk of sudden cardiac death and abnormal heartbeats.
Try to eat omega-3 fatty acids in foods like fish.
Stroke
Eating more than two servings of fish a week can lower your risk for stroke or TIA. Oily fish (such as salmon, mackerel, and herring) lowers your risk more than other types of fish.2
Fish safety
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommend that women who may become pregnant, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children should not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish, because these fish have higher mercury concentrations. But for middle-aged and older people, the protection fish offer the heart outweighs the risks of eating these fish. Eating a variety of fish may reduce the amount of mercury you eat.3, 4