
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 27, 1990                   TAG: 9003270314
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

FISH EATERS HAVE FEWER HEART ATTACKS

An analysis of the dietary habits of 6,000 middle-aged American men has revealed a dramatic relationship between eating fish and the ability to avoid having a fatal heart attack.

The study indicated that men who ate two or three modest helpings of fish a week were 40 percent less likely to die of heart attacks than men who ate no fish at all, said Dr. Therese Dolecek, a nutrition epidemiologist at Bowman Gray Medical School in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Dolecek presented her findings to other scientists attending a conference here last week on the health benefits of Omega 3, the fish oil-derived substance thought to protect Eskimos from heart disease.

Scientists at the meeting said an international consensus is emerging that dietary deficiencies in Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids play a significant role in many diseases.

More than 300 researchers from 23 countries spent four days extolling the benefits of Omega 3 - not only in prevention and treatment of heart disease, but in connection with a variety of other ailments, including cancer, diabetes, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Studies presented at the meeting included findings that the development of visual acuity in premature infants was improved by the inclusion of fish oil in their formula, that Omega 3 slowed the buildup of platelets and substances such as cholesterol on the walls of blood vessels and that cardiac arrhythmia in rats and marmosets was reduced when they were fed Omega 3-enriched diets.

by CNB