Men who eat one meal of oily fish a week can halve the risk of dying suddenly from cardiac arrest, researchers say.

American scientists who studied more than 20,500 male physicians aged between 40 to 84 found that those who ate fish like tuna, salmon, or mackerel at least once a week had a 52% lower risk of sudden death than those eating it less than once a month.

A type of fat found in seafood, n-3 or omega-3 fatty acid, was also associated with a reduced risk of sudden death, but less significantly.

But fish and n-3 had no effect on heart attacks, heart disease death or non-sudden cardiac death.

"All levels of fish consumption were associated with a decreased risk of sudden death," Dr Christine Albert and colleagues from Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston, Massachusetts, wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Salmon both fresh and canned has a positive effect

"This small amount of fish may be sufficient to provide an essential amount of long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid or some unidentified nutrient or both that decrease sudden cardiac death."

In an accompanying article, Dr Daan Kromhout from the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands said the study provided no clear-cut answers because of the lack of an effect on non-sudden deaths from cardiac arrest and heart disease.

But this and other studies provided convincing evidence that fatty fish may reduce the occurrence of cardiac arrest.

"The existing evidence suggests that consumption of fish once a week will help prevent coronary heart disease and therefore should be a component of a healthy diet," said Dr Kromhout.
 

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