Don’t slash salt — double down on seafood, instead

Having spent so much time this week on what doesn’t work to keep your heart healthy, I thought I’d devote today’s discussion to revisiting one strategy that absolutely does.

Namely, consuming more omega-3s.

A new meta-analysis recently appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). It featured more than 45,000 subjects from 19 different trials and 16 countries.

Researchers looked at blood markers of seafood-derived fatty acids — specifically eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) — as well as plant-based alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). They then compared these levels with heart attack and death risk.

Lo and behold, subjects with the highest levels of these essential fatty acids had a 25 percent lower risk of suffering a fatal heart attack. And all three omega-3s — yes, even plant-based ALA, which you’ll find in foods like walnuts and pumpkin seeds — dropped risk of cardiovascular death by 10 percent, overall.

This is exactly why I’m always telling you to eat more fat…and never to forget your fish oil.

So stock up on walnuts, wild-caught salmon, avocados, and macadamia nut oil. And take at least 3,000 mg of high-quality DHA/EPA per day.


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