The team also found that a relatively low consumption of the food cut the risk of heart attack.
Dr Demosthenes B. Panagiotakos from Harokopio University in Athens and his colleagues analysed fish consumption among 848 middle-aged Greek men and women who had experienced an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) such as heart-related chest pain, and compared them to 1078 control subjects.
People who eat less than 150g per week of fish had a 38 per cent reduced risk of ACS, even after accounting for other potentially influential factors, write the researchers in the 20 July issue of the International Journal of Cardiology (vol 102, issue 3, pp 403-9).
Rather surprisingly however, moderate (150-300 g/week) and high (>300 g/week) fish consumption was not associated with developing the disease.
The benefits from low fish consumption were also significant in smokers, cutting their ACS risk by 11 per cent, and diabetics, said the authors.
Both these groups have high risks of heart disease.
"The strength and consistency of this finding has implications for public health and should be explored further," they conclude.
