Why You Should Prioritize Oily Fish If You Have A Family History Of Heart Disease

There are a number of factors that impact a person's risk for heart disease, both genetic and environment. And if you're someone with a family history of heart disease, you might wonder what you can do to lower your risk.

It's well known that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish are beneficial for heart health, but can they reduce your heart disease risk if you're already genetically predisposed? That's what researchers wanted to find out, and to do so, they conducted an international study of over 40,000 people.

Analyzing data from participants all over the world, the researchers looked for both fatal and non-fatal coronary heart disease, including things like heart attack, stroke, cardiac arrest, and more. They also took into account things like family history, dietary intake, and notably, fatty acid levels.

As the study authors explain, since omega-3's can't be produced by the body, so taking participants' fatty acid levels was a more reliable way of assessing oily fish consumption than self-reported dietary data.

Throughout the follow-up period of the research, just under 8,000 of the participants experienced a cardiovascular event. The researchers were then able to see that people with a family history of heart disease, coupled with low omega-3 levels, were over 40% more likely to suffer from heart disease.

As study co-author Karin Leander Ph.D. explains in a news release, "We are the first to study the effect of the combination of family history and fatty fish intake using fatty acid measurements,” adding that their findings suggest that those with a family history of cardiovascular disease "have more to gain from eating more oily fish than others."