Omega-3 Research

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Daviglus M, M.D.,Ph.D., et al., "Fish Consumption and the 30-year Risk of Fatal Myocardial Infarction" The New England Journal of Medicine, 1997 v.336 (15) 1046-1053

Data from epidemiologic studies indicate that the ingestion of small amounts of fish may be protective against myocardial infarction. Data from several studies, including the Chicago Western Electric Study, compared with the Zutphen and Rotterdam studies, the Swedish study and the study of U.S.Physicians and others, were used to examine the relationship between base-line fish consumption and the 30-year risk of death from coronary heart disease.

The study especially considered sudden and non-sudden death from myocardial infarction. Participants were 1,822 men who were 40-55 years old and free of cardiovascular disease at baseline. Vital status was determined at the annual examination for the first ten years and by means of mailed questionnaires or telephone interviews for the next fifteen years. Mortality from coronary heart disease, ascertained from death certificates, was classified as death from myocardial infarction (sudden or non-sudden) or death from other coronary causes.

During the 30-years follow up there were 430 deaths from coronary heart disease 293 were due to myocardial infarctions (196 were sudden, 94 were non-sudden, and 3 were not classifiable). Of the 137 deaths from coronary heart disease other than myocardial infarction, few were sudden.

Fish consumption, as determined from a detailed dietary history, was stratified (0, 1 to 17, 18 to 34, and greater than or equal to 35 g per day). Those who consumed 35 g or more of fish per day had a 42 percent lower rate of death from myocardial infarction than those who did not consume fish, a relation accounted for by the inverse association between non-sudden death from myocardial infarction and fish consumption. In contrast, there was only a moderate association between fish intake and sudden death from myocardial infarction.

The findings of these studies were concordant with data showing a significant inverse relation between fish consumption and the risk of death from coronary heart disease. In regard to the specific aspect of death from coronary heart disease-whether it was sudden or not sudden-it was found that higher consumption of fish was associated with a lower rate of non-sudden death

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