Fish the dish for healthy heart

TAKING omega-3 fish oil supplements does not help to prevent heart attacks or strokes, a leading international research group has found.
The review into the health benefits of the capsules, taken by millions of people every day, was carried out by the UK based Cochrane Library.
The Cochrane group’s lead author, Dr Lee Hooper, from the University of East Anglia, said: ‘This large systematic review included information from many thousands of people over long periods. Despite all this information, we don’t see protective effects.’
However, the Cochrane Library said it did not have enough evidence to examine whether eating oily fish itself was beneficial.
The researchers looked at trials of more than 100,000 people and found that the chance of receiving any benefit from omega-3 supplement was one in a thousand.
But government nutritionists insisted last night that there was plenty of evidence that omega-3 does help to prevent cardiovascular disease.
The NHS had not changed its view that people should eat at least one meal a week based on oily fish, such as salmon, tuna, herring or mackerel.
Professor Tom Sanders, a nutrition expert at King\’s College London and honorary director of Heart UK, told the BBC: ‘The current dietary guidelines to prevent cardiovascular disease encourage fish consumption, rather than taking supplements. This study provides no evidence to suggest that this dietary advice should change.’