Research

Hormonal

Modest consumption of fatty fish (providing ~250 mg/day of EPA+DHA) significantly lowers the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality by approximately 36% compared to no intake, with benefits evident within weeks to months primarily through anti-arrhythmic mechanisms.

Eat 1-2 servings of fatty fish (like salmon, sardines, or herring) per week. This provides enough omega-3s (EPA+DHA) to significantly lower your risk of dying from heart disease, with benefits starting to show in just a few weeks. The mercury risk in these fish does not negate these heart benefits for the general adult population.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
pooling of the prospective studies and controlled trials indicates that, compared with no intake, modest consumption (~250 mg/day [2¼ calories/day] of EPA+DHA, equivalent to ~1-2 servings/week of fatty fish) lowers risk of CHD mortality by 36% [1]. ... at typical dietary intakes (< 1 g/d of n-3 PUFA), anti-arrhythmic effects appear to predominate, with such effects reducing the risk of cardiac death within weeks to months.
Dariush Mozaffarian · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2009

Why this rating

Supported by consistent evidence from case-control, prospective cohort, and randomized controlled trials, though the author notes the evidence for non-fatal outcomes is less robust.

Source

Fish, Mercury, Selenium and Cardiovascular Risk: Current Evidence and Unanswered Questions

Dariush Mozaffarian · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2009

DOI 10.3390/ijerph6061894

narrative_reviewCited 183×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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