Not all fish are created equal when it comes to their heart benefits, researchers said last night.
Fish can be very healthy – but frying may eliminate its benefits, researchers said.
Researchers looked at the type of fish consumed and cooking method used by 84,493 postmenopausal women taking part in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study from 1991 to 2008.
Two simple groups of fish intake were chosen: baked/grilled or fried. During an average follow-up of ten years there were 1,858 cases of heart failure.
Women whose ate more baked/grilled fish tended to be more physically active and fit, more educated and less likely to smoke, have diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease than those who ate more fried fish.
This group also tended to eat more fruit and vegetables, as well as less saturated and trans fatty acids, and more essential fatty acids found in nuts, seeds and some vegetable oils.
Fried fish eaters were generally heavier and had a greater calorie intake overall.
In terms of heart risk, those who ate the most baked/grilled fish had a 30 per cent lower risk of heart failure compared to those who ate the least. One serving a week of fried fish was associated with a 48 per cent rise in heart failure risk.
Findings appear in Circulation: Heart Failure, an American Heart Association journal.
Dr Donald Lloyd-Jones of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, USA, and colleagues say that oily fish was linked to a significantly greater risk reduction than white fish or tinned tuna.
Dr Lloyd-Jones said: "Not all fish are equal, and how you prepare it really matters. When you fry fish, you not only lose a lot of the benefits, you likely add some things related to the cooking process that are harmful."
Lloyd-Jones, D. et al. Circulation: Heart Failure (in press).
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