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Heart Disease & Dietary Recommendations
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Excerpted from
(Circulation. 2004;109:672-693.)
American Heart association
Our dietary recommendations emphasize intake of a variety of heart-healthy foods. The panel concluded that intake of fish has been associated with a reduced risk of CVD. The benefits of fish seem to result, at least in part, from omega-3 fatty acids. Nonetheless, women of childbearing age, especially pregnant women, should avoid shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish because the relatively high content of mercury in these fish may impair fetal neurological development. Still, these women can eat other kinds of fish, such as catfish, flounder, and salmon, which have less mercury. For a more complete listing of mercury levels in different types of fish, see the US Food and Drug Administration web site at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/sea-mehg.html. Women who do not eat fish might consider nonmarine sources of omega-3 fatty acids, such as flaxseed oil, walnut oil, canola oil, soybean oil, or walnuts. However, there is less evidence supporting a cardiovascular benefit from these sources of omega-3 fatty acids.
Other sources recommend not eating fish more than twice a week due to potential mercury contamination.
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