Researchers discover the type of fish that reduces cholesterol – thanks to four ‘magic’ compounds

Dietitians have long recommended including salmon in your meals because research shows that people who eat a lot of it are more likely to be slim and free of disease.

But the question of what exactly is in salmon that provides health benefits has remained largely unanswered until now.

Researchers from the University of Colorado believe they have found at least four compounds in the fish that they say may lower the “bad” type of cholesterol.

This is the fatty substance that builds up in the blood vessels and damages them, dramatically increasing the risk of strokes and heart attacks.

Their new study, published in the Journal of Nutritionshowed that by eating salmon you can get at least 30 metabolites: substances produced during digestion or other chemical processes.

Four of these metabolites have been associated with significant improvements in cardiovascular health.

In the study, researchers asked 41 participants between the ages of 30 and 69 to follow a Mediterranean diet, including a range of fish, lean meats, whole grains, and fruits and vegetables.

They then assessed how healthy their cardiovascular system was by analyzing blood and performing other tests. Tests were conducted before and after the diet.

Included in the diet were two servings of salmon per week for two five-week periods, with a one-month break in between.

The participants were obese or overweight, but none had any active metabolic disease such as type 2 diabetes.

Samples of the food given to the participants were also analyzed in a laboratory to identify their metabolites.

The researchers found a total of 1,518 compounds in the food, but only 508 appeared to be unique to salmon.

If the researchers found a compound in salmon, but no other food, they categorized it as a salmon food-specific compound.

They found an increase in two salmon-specific compounds and two metabolites long known to lower cholesterol and linked to a healthier cardiovascular system.

Many of these substances were fats, providing additional evidence for the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids in fish.

Furthermore, they found that people with high levels of these substances in their blood were taller reductions in total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides and apolipoprotein B, which is an indicator of heart disease.

“We are the first to identify salmon-specific bioactive compounds that increase in plasma following consumption (a Mediterranean diet) of ~4-8oz (one to two fillets) of salmon per week,” the researchers wrote.

‘Furthermore, several of these food-specific compounds were associated with short-term improvements in cardiometabolic health indicators.’

There are several different types of salmon: five types of Pacific salmon and two types of Atlantic salmon.

Wild-caught Pacific salmon is generally considered the healthiest. In wild salmon, the amount and type of omega-3 fatty acids are based on the algae and plankton in the fish’s diet.

With farmed salmon it is based on the type of food they eat.

The Mediterranean diet consists of plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and olive oil.

A vast amount of research has identified the Mediterranean diet as the gold standard of eating.

A study published last year found that switching to a Mediterranean diet from the normal Western diet can help you live longer, and the earlier you start in life, the better.