Research

Mixed

Consumption of tuna or other broiled/baked fish (≥3 times/week) is associated with a significantly lower risk of total and arrhythmic ischemic heart disease (IHD) death in older adults, whereas fried fish or fish sandwich consumption shows no such benefit and trends toward higher risk.

If you are over 65 and want to protect your heart, eat tuna or other baked/broiled fish at least three times a week. Avoid fried fish and fish sandwiches, as they do not offer the same heart protection and might even increase risk. The way you cook the fish is just as important as the fish itself.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
consumption of tuna or other broiled or baked fish was associated with lower risk of total IHD death (P for trend=0.001) and arrhythmic IHD death (P=0.001)... In similar analyses, fried fish/fish sandwich consumption was not associated with lower risk of total IHD death, arrhythmic IHD death, or nonfatal MI but rather with trends toward higher risk.
Dariush Mozaffarian et al. · Circulation · 2003

Why this rating

Prospective cohort study with large sample size (n=3910), long follow-up (9.3 years), and rigorous adjustment for confounders, though observational design prevents causal inference.

Source

Cardiac Benefits of Fish Consumption May Depend on the Type of Fish Meal Consumed

Dariush Mozaffarian et al. · Circulation · 2003

DOI 10.1161/01.cir.0000055315.79177.16

cohort · n=3910Cited 398×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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