Study finds eating salmon weekly can cut rheumatoid arthritis risk in half

Eating fish such as salmon at least once a week could halve the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, a new study has claimed.

The findings stem from a study of more than 32,000 Swedish women and offer another reason to follow the established dietary advice of regularly consuming fish for good health.

Researchers said the benefits of fishy diet are because it is rich in omega-3, which is said to protect both the heart and the brain.

A research team at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute analysed the dietary habits of 32,000 women, all of whom were born between 1914 and 1948 and were followed from 2003 to 2010.

Participants provided information on their diet, height, weight, parenthood status and educational achievements, as well as recording the frequency and amounts of various foods they ate, including several types of oily and lean fish.

A total of 205 women were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis during the follow-up period and the researchers discovered that a high dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids – which are found in fish such as salmon and fresh tuna – was associated with a reduced risk of the autoimmune disease.

Read the full story here.

Pregnant? Eat Fish!

Excerpt from Dr. Weil’s article on the Huffington Post mentions Ray Hilborn’s New York Times op-ed…

Dr. Andrew Weil

Founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine

“…while many worry that overfishing has depleted much of the world’s fish stock, “fish stocks worldwide appear to be stable, and in the United States they are rebuilding, in many cases at a rapid rate,” according to a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece by Ray Hilborn, a professor of aquatic and fishery sciences at the University of Washington. Even if this were untrue and fish were scarce, pregnant women would still be the most deserving recipients of this dwindling resource — and should be absolutely the last group to have to give up fish.”

Read the rest of the article on the Huffington Post.