THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, April 13, 1995               TAG: 9504130439
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A10  EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BOSTON GLOBE 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   50 lines

BENEFITS OF EATING FISH HAS LIMITS, STUDY SAYS CONSUMING MORE MAY NOT NECESSARILY BE BETTER.

Eating lots of fish to prevent heart disease does no more to prevent heart disease than having just one or two servings a month, according to a major study that counters popular belief that more is healthier.

``If a little is good, then a lot must be better - that does not turn out to be the case,'' said Dr. Alberto Ascherio, assistant professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and lead author of the study in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

The report, based on 45,000 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, is the largest to look at this issue.

Dr. William Connor, an Oregon Health Sciences University professor who has studied fish oil and its effects on reducing blood clots that can lead to heart attacks, said the study confirms earlier reports that ``eating some fish is desirable.''

But Connor added, ``Americans, of course, suffer from having the philosophy that if a little is good, more is better.''

Perhaps reflecting that philosophy, U.S. seafood consumption has grown at a gradual but steady rate, from 9.9 pounds per person in 1945 to 15 pounds per person in 1993, according to the National Fisheries Institute, a seafood trade organization based in Virginia.

Not surprisingly, the institute issued a statement Wednesday taking exception to the study: ``A balanced diet including two to three servings of fish per week still seems like excellent advice. The American consumer eats fish for a variety of reasons, including health and nutrition. Taste and more variety are still the most important reasons, however.''

The study found that those who ate no fish had fatal heart attacks at a rate of 7.8 per 1,000 men, compared with 5.8 per 1,000 for the men who ate at least one quarter-pound serving of fish a month. That 26 percent reduction in risk, however, was not statistically significant, and there was no increase in protection for men who ate six or more servings of fish a week.

Some earlier studies, involving hundreds of men followed over two decades, found that men who ate about two servings of fish a week cut their risk of a fatal heart attack in half, a statistically significant reduction. And epidemiological studies of Eskimos have attributed the population's low heart disease rates, despite a fatty diet, to consumption of fish oils. by CNB