Heart attack victims, go easy on oily fish
|Published
Fish should still be eaten at least twice a week, including one portion of oily fish. Fish should still be eaten at least twice a week, including one portion of oily fish.
London - Oily fish may have little or no impact on preventing repeat heart attacks, according to new guidance.
Survivors of coronary attacks had been advised to eat two or three portions of oily fish, such as mackerel or herring, each week and fish oil supplements were approved for prescribing on the NHS.
But the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence said new treatments had made this approach redundant.
Instead the 1.5 million Britons who have suffered an attack should eat a full Mediterranean diet, it said, and exercise every day to avoid the risk of dying prematurely.
The draft guidance updates existing advice issued in 2007.
It suggests survivors should consume more bread, fruit, vegetables and fish, but less meat, with plant oils replacing butter and cheese.
The Nice guidance said: “New evidence shows that the risk of cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks or strokes, is very different today because of new treatments that are now available. This means that any impact an oily fish diet may have on preventing further heart attacks or strokes could be minimal.”
But it adds that fish should still be eaten at least twice a week, including one portion of oily fish.
One million men and nearly 500 000 women alive in the UK have had a heart attack.
Survival rates have improved since the late 1990s, due to clotbusting drugs given immediately after an attack.
Dr Mike Knapton, of the British Heart Foundation, said treatment of heart attacks had ‘changed substantially’ in the last six years. - Daily Mail