What Should Women Want?
More Fish in Their Diet

CHICAGO (AP) -- Eating fish, even in modest amounts, can significantly reduce a woman's risk of the most common type of stroke, a major new study suggests.

The study of nearly 80,000 women found that eating fish was linked to reductions in the risk of ischemic, or clot-related, strokes, which account for about 83 percent of all strokes.

Women who ate about 4 ounces of fish two to four times weekly cut their risk of ischemic stroke by 48 percent. Slightly higher risk reductions were found in women who ate fish five or more times weekly, but there were relatively few women in that group.

Omega-3 fatty acids, found in most fish, have been shown to lower levels of blood fats linked to cardiovascular disease and to help keep blood from clotting. The fats are especially plentiful in dark, oily fish such as mackerel, salmon and sardines.

While previous research largely has focused on fish and heart disease, the new study is one of the few to examine the effect on stroke risk and to differentiate between types of strokes, said author Dr. Kathryn M. Rexrode of Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Mounting evidence about the cardiovascular benefits of fish led the American Heart Association to include two servings of fish a week in its updated dietary recommendations last fall.

The researchers examined about 14 years of data on 79,839 participants in the Nurses' Health Study. The women were ages 34 to 59 in 1980. There were 574 strokes in the ensuing 14 years.

The researchers took into account the women's age and whether they smoked, factors that could affect stroke risk. But other factors, such as high blood pressure, were not included.

A study released last week by the Food and Drug Administration said pregnant women and those who might become pregnant should not eat four types of fish -- shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish -- because they could contain enough mercury to hurt a fetus' developing brain.

The Associated Press.
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