Moderate fish consumption lowers all-cause, CVD mortality risks

Eating fish from four to six servings a week (29‒43 g/day) appears to reduce the risks of all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, results of a China study have shown.

The authors examined the association of fish consumption with all-cause, CVD, ischaemic heart disease (IHD), and stroke mortality in a total of 18,215 older men and women without CVD at baseline (2003‒2006) from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study. Participants were followed until December 2017.

The authors identified all deaths using record linkage with the Death Registry. They also collected information on fish consumption using a food frequency questionnaire.

Overall, 2,697 deaths occurred (917 total CVD, 397 IHD, and 374 stroke deaths) over a mean follow-up of 11.4 years.

Fish consumption of four to six servings/week (29‒43 g/day; one serving=50 g) resulted in significantly lower risks of all-cause (hazard ratio [HR], 0.85, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.76‒0.95) and CVD mortality (HR, 0.77, 95 percent CI, 0.64‒0.93) compared with zero to three servings/week (0‒21 g/day) after adjusting for potential confounders.

However, the reduced IHD mortality risk (HR, 0.80, 95 percent CI, 0.60‒1.07) did not reach statistical significance. Interestingly, fish consumption of seven to 10 servings/week or higher was not associated with all-cause, CVD, IHD, and stroke mortality.

“Our findings support the current general advice on regular fish consumption also in middle-aged and older adults,” the authors said.