Eating oily fish such as salmon slashes early death risk, say experts

Eating plenty of oily fish like salmon or mackerel can slash the risk of a premature death by up to a third, according to new research.

A study of 2,500 older people found those who had the highest amounts of omega 3 were 34 per cent less likely to die within the next seven years.

They were also 39 per cent less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke.

The fatty acids – found in oily seafood such as salmon – were a better predictor of good health than cholesterol levels.

Lead author Dr William Harris, of the University of South Dakota, said: “We all know the serum cholesterol level is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and since the latter is a major cause of death in the western world, it would be reasonable to expect a high cholesterol level would portend higher risk for premature death. This did not turn out to be the case here.

“When baseline serum cholesterol levels were substituted for the Omega-3 Index in the same multi-variable models, the former was not significantly associated with any of the tracked outcomes whereas the latter was related to four of the five outcomes assessed.”