Does Fish Cause Stroke

Does Fish Cause Stroke

When I read that a new study had found that high fish intake may increase the risk of stroke I knew that one of three things was going on: Either the study was bad, the fish was contaminated, or the fish was fried.

Even the lead researcher – Maria Wennberg of Umea University in Sweden – knew that something was amiss. After her study of the dietary habits and medical histories of more than 1,000 subjects found that men who eat fish more than twice each week were MORE likely to have a stroke, she told The Local (a Swedish news outlet) that men should not stop eating fish.

If the study were sound, wouldn’t she be offering the opposite advice?

And while we’re asking questions, why would the editors of the British Journal of Nutrition bother publishing a study like this? Are they that hard up for studies?

Ms. Wennberg’s team was on the right track, taking into consideration certain variables such as cholesterol levels, smoking habits, and incidence of diabetes. But other critical variables – including exercise frequency, vegetable intake, alcohol intake and possible contamination of fish – were not considered.

So can this study be saved with a more complete follow up? It probably can if the researchers also take into consideration the way fish is prepared.

I’ve pointed this out in previous e-Alerts, but with all the emphasis on including fish in our diets it bears repeating: Regular consumption of fried fish is very unhealthy. According to a 2003 University of Washington study, subjects who ate fried fish several times each week had a higher risk of heart attack and death due to heart disease. In the same study, subjects who ate baked or broiled fish three or more times each week had a significantly reduced risk of heart disease.

So, as always, assume news headlines are bogus until proven relevant. This particular case (with a headline that reads “Fish-Eating Men Face Increased Stroke Risk”) is textbook nonsense.