The Diet Change That Can Cut Your Risk of an Exercise-Triggered Heart Attack
Adding fish to your plate two to three times a week may help lower your risk of exercise-induced heart attack, according to a new study published in Heart.
Researchers found consuming fatty acids from fish was most beneficial in reducing heart attack risk in men with a history of cardiovascular disease.
Eat more fish like salmon and mackerel, but limit your consumption of fish with higher mercury levels, like swordfish, since they have been linked to heart disease.
Adding fish to your diet can have a plethora of benefits: Research has shown it can help with everything from muscle recovery to warding off stroke and Alzheimer’s disease.
Now, you may be able to add another one to the list. New research found the long-chain omega-3 fats found in fish may protect your heart from exercise-induced heart attack-especially if you have a history of cardiovascular disease.
In a recent study published in the journal Heart, researchers recruited over 2,100 men ages 42 to 60 to determine whether blood or hair levels of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)-an indirect way to measure fish consumption-affected their risk of coronary heart disease.
They discovered that those in the highest quartile of omega-3 levels had about a 33 percent lower risk of exercise-induced heart attack over the five-year study than those in the lowest quartile.
What’s more, when looking at a the amount of omega-3 levels in the blood of men with a history of heart disease, they found that those in the highest quartile had a 90 percent lower risk. The link was much weaker among the men without the condition.
Experts aren’t exactly sure why omega-3s can help protect your heart against heart attacks triggered by exercise. But it may have something to do with how it improves something called your coronary vasodilator reserve, which helps open up blood vessels.
The result? That can increase blood flow during exercising, especially among patients with heart disease, study author Jyrki Virtanen, Ph.D., assistant professor of nutritional epidemiology at the University of Eastern Finland, told Bicycling. That’s important, since when blood flows more easily to your heart, you may be less likely to have a heart attack.
While the study used only men as participants, it is possible that similar results would apply to women, too, though further research must be done to confirm that, Virtanen said.
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Though blood and hair levels of omega-3 were used in this study, higher levels can serve as a proxy for higher fish consumption. So adding more fish to your diet would be an easy way to boost your omega-3 levels and potentially protect your heart, Virtanen said.
Aim to follow the American Heart Association recommendations of eating fatty fish at least two to three times per week to lower your risk of coronary heart disease. Getting in two to three 3.5-ounce servings of fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, or albacore tuna, which are high in omega-3 fatty acids, is most beneficial.
But you may want to limit your consumption of fish with high mercury levels, like ahi tuna or swordfish. The study also found that higher levels of methylmercury in hair samples were linked to a higher risk of coronary heart disease and sudden death.
“Species with higher long-chain omega-3 fatty acid content, such as salmon, contain less methylmercury,” Virtanen said. “Therefore, it is good to eat a variety of fish to minimize the exposure to environmental contaminants.”
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