Heart Health With Trout

Overview

Throughout the complexity of daily lives, our hearts function as our soul’s provider, giving us everything we need to live. Despite its vital role, as humans do, we tend to neglect the importance of heart health amidst all the chaos that life throws at us. While genetics, age, and gender affect heart health, there are also numerous environmental factors that you can change to help improve the health of your heart. For example, the NHS recommends that eating fish, such as trout, twice a week is important for a healthy, balanced diet and improved heart health. 

Understanding heart health

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), or heart and circulatory disease, is an umbrella term for various subtypes of heart disease. According to the British Heart Foundation (BHF), 7.6 million people across the UK are living with a form of CVD. By embracing preventative strategies, such as maintaining a healthy diet, engaging in regular physical activity, and managing stress, you can reduce your risk of developing heart disease. 

To improve your heart health, you first need to be aware of the potential risk factors that can cause it. Risk factors function as signposts and should be used as indicators for you to take proactive steps to ensure your heart health. The BHF has listed the following risk factors for developing a heart condition: 

1. Lack of Physical Activity: Engaging in high levels of physical activity is correlated with a reduced likelihood of developing CVD when compared to lower levels⁽⁾.¹ More physical activity can reduce risk by helping reduce other risk factors such as high blood pressure (hypertension), high cholesterol, being overweight, and type 2 diabetes. Additionally, a meta-analysis study observed that men and women who have moderate levels of physical activity have a 20-30% and 10-20% reduced risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, respectively⁾²
2. Smoking: Cigarette smoke contains over 7,000 chemical compounds, some of which induce damage and inflammation to your blood vessels.³ This may induce an inflammatory cascade that can prove to be fatal and contribute to the development of CVD
3. High Blood Pressure: This essentially means your heart is working overtime to pump blood around your body. So the pressure is going to be higher than normal. The blood vessels that typically deliver your blood to your organs, your arteries, are quite elastic, enabling them to withstand high pressure. However, if the blood pressure is too high, your arteries become stiffer and narrower. This makes it easier for fatty substances, such as cholesterol, to clog them up, potentially causing a heart attack or a stroke
4. Type 2 Diabetes: When your body can’t use the insulin it makes or can’t make enough insulin, this may cause a build-up of too much glucose. This can damage your blood vessels, potentially facilitating the build-up of fatty deposits in your arteries and increasing the risk of developing heart disease
5. Being Overweight: This risk factor directly correlates with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Hence, being a healthy weight reduces your risk of other risk factors and helps your general heart health
6. High Cholesterol: Cholesterol is a fatty substance (a lipid) that is typically produced in your liver. It is vital for cellular function and is required for staying healthy.⁴ There are different types of cholesterol, some of which are good for you and some that aren’t. High levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol can be detrimental as they can clog up your arteries, which is detrimental to your heart health and may result in CVD

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a lipid that is carried around by proteins in your blood. These proteins help deliver cholesterol to all areas of your body and allow for healthy cellular processes and functions. When proteins and lipids, like cholesterol, bind to each other, they form compounds called lipoproteins. Different types of cholesterol can be carried by lipoproteins: 

1. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. This is also known as ‘good’ cholesterol. HDLs absorb cholesterol in the blood and transport it back to the liver. As it helps remove cholesterol from your blood, it helps prevent the build-up of cholesterol in your arteries and reduces your risk of developing CVD
2. Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) or non-high-density lipoproteins (non-HDL) cholesterol: This is also known as ‘bad cholesterol’. These lipoproteins take cholesterol from your liver and deliver it to cells and organs around your body. If you have high levels of cholesterol, the cholesterol from these lipoproteins can unbind from the proteins and stick to the walls of your arteries (atheroma). These fatty deposits make your arteries more narrow and hard. This reduces the elasticity of your arteries, reducing the blood flow and increasing your risk of stroke or heart attack

Eating too many saturated fats, such as butter, meat products, and cream, can elevate levels of LDL cholesterol in your blood. Therefore, it may be wise to reduce your saturated fat intake and replace them with unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are considered to be ‘healthy’ fats and have been shown to help reduce overall cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol in your blood.⁵ An excellent source of unsaturated fatty acids can be obtained from omega-3 fatty acids, which are present in lots of fish, such as trout. 

Trout and omega-3

It is recommended that we should have at least two portions of fish twice a week, of which at least one should be oily fish (NHS). Oily fish, such as trout, are excellent sources of omega-3, a type of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) that can only be obtained from your diet. The main omega-3 fatty acids acquired from fish are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which are also known as essential fatty acids.⁶ These compounds function as the building blocks of every cell within your body and are vital for keeping your heart healthy. 

Omega-3 benefits 

Omega-3 fatty acids in particular have been shown to decrease total blood cholesterol and blood pressure and regulate your heartbeat, reducing your risk of developing CVD.^7,8 These fats have particularly long chains that can help lower inflammation within the body via multiple mechanisms.⁹ Inflammation can harm your blood vessels and may cause the walls of the vessels to thicken. This reduces blood flow, which can potentially cause tissue damage and increase your risk of developing CVD. Hence, consuming omega-3 fatty acids, which have anti-inflammatory effects, may help prevent developing CVD. 

Omega 3 has also been observed to reduce levels of triglycerides in your blood. Like cholesterol, triglycerides are another fatty substance or lipid that circulates in your blood. Triglycerides are our main source of energy and can be formed from glycerol (a sugar) and three saturated or unsaturated fats. However, high levels of triglycerides in your blood can harm your blood vessels and heart. For example, if your triglyceride levels are above 200 ml/dL, you’re 25% more at risk of CVD. Researchers have established that omega 3 can reduce the production of LDL in your liver⁽⁾.¹⁰ This mechanism lowers the level of ‘bad’ cholesterol in your blood, reducing the chance of cholesterol blocking up your arteries and developing CVD. 

So, make sure to include at least two portions of fish in your weekly diet, one of which is an oily fish, like trout. It has many health benefits, as well as helping your heart health and reducing your risk of developing CVD. 

Risks and considerations

Including trout in your diet can be a healthy choice due to its high omega-3 content, protein, vitamins, and minerals. However, there are some risks and considerations that can also be considered: 

1. Mercury: Like many fish, trout can contain mercury, especially larger and older trout. Mercury is a highly toxic metal that can accumulate within your body over time and cause detrimental health risks. Hence, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children should be careful of how much fish and which fish to consume. For further information and guidelines on the matter, the Mayo Clinic has created a very informative page for this (Mayo Clinic)
2. Cooking methods: How you cook your trout can impact the healthiness of the dish. If you’re aiming to improve your heart health and reduce your saturated fat intake, utilising healthier cooking methods can help. For example, baked, streamed, or grilled fish is a much healthier alternative than fried fish

Summary

Heart health is a vital aspect of our lives that needs to be carefully looked after. Fatty substances such as cholesterol can be detrimental and negatively affect this. However, there are also good types of fatty acids, such as unsaturated fats, that can help improve our heart health. Omega 3 is a well-known unsaturated fatty acid found in many fish, such as trout. Incorporating trout into your diet can have several beneficial effects on your cardiovascular health. It can help decrease total blood cholesterol and blood pressure, regulate your heartbeat as well as reduce the levels of triglycerides in your blood. So, make sure to add some more trout to your weekly shop next week to start improving your heart health.