Sardines have fallen out of favour a bit, and maybe they shouldn’t have.
Sardines on toast, or just eaten straight out of the tin was quite a thing when I was a kid, but you hardly ever hear of it any more, but a new study has found if we swapped red meat for sardines, hundreds of thousands of lives may be saved from heart disease.
Researchers from Japan and Australia have published the study in BMJ Global Health – and found that worldwide up to 750,000 lives a year could be saved by 2050 if we switched to eating more sardines and forage fish.
Forage fish include herrings, anchovies and sprats, basically fish that travel in packs that fish higher up the food chain like to eat.
The study found that eating more forage fish would “ “significantly reduce the prevalence of disability from diet-related disease”.
It also found that there is mounting evidence that “that links red and processed meat consumption with heightened risks of non-communicable disease, which accounted for around 70 per cent of all deaths globally in 2019”.
Forage fish are rich in omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and evidence shows these prevent coronary heart disease.
So there you have it, eat more sardines, it may just save your life.
How do you like to eat sardines?
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