Salmon fillets are often the go-to when choosing fish over meat. It’s tasty, easy to cook, not too fishy, and good for your heart.

And it always gets a mention when discussing the wonders of the Mediterranean diet and heart health.

But it’s expensive. Although salmon is highly nutritious, smaller fish such as sardines contain more protein and vitamin B12. They also have much higher amounts of calcium and other minerals.

The zinc, potassium and magnesium found in sardines lowers blood pressure and improves blood lipids.

Plus, being foraging fish, they’re more environmentally friendly, they’re almost immune to mercury poisoning. And they’re cheaper than chips.

A new development

A new study has found evidence linking the intake of small fish, eaten whole, with a reduced risk of all-cause and cancer mortality.

These associations were found in both women and men, in Japan. But the link, for some treason, was much stronger in women.

Researchers from Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine said the study highlights “the potential life-extending benefits of habitually eating small fish”.

According to a statement from Nagoya University, Japanese people habitually eat small fish, such as whitebait, Atlantic capelin, Japanese smelt, and small dried sardines.

Importantly, it is common practice to consume small fish whole, including the head, bones, and organs, which are rich in micronutrients, such as calcium and vitamin A.

Lead researcher Dr Chinatsu Kasahara said: “Previous studies have revealed the protective effect of fish intake on health outcomes, including mortality risks.

“However, few studies have focused on the effect of the intake of small fish specifically on health outcomes.”

She said she was interested in this topic “because I have had the habit of eating small fish since childhood. I now feed my children these”.

The new study

The study included 80,802 participants. There were 34,555 men and 46,247 women. They were aged 35 to 69 years and were recruited nationwide.

The participants’ consumption of small fish was recorded using a food frequency questionnaire at baseline.

The researchers followed them for an average of nine years.

During the follow-up period, 2482 deaths from people included in the study were recorded, with about 60 per cent of these deaths being cancer related.

The results

Perhaps the most striking finding was “the significant reduction in all-cause and cancer mortality among women who habitually eat small fish”.

The more often the women ate whole small fish, the lower their risk.

These findings suggest that incorporating small fish into their daily diet could be a simple but effective strategy to reduce the risk of mortality among women.

The risk of all-cause and cancer mortality in men showed a similar trend to that in women, although it was not statistically significant.

The researchers said the reasons for this remain unclear.

But it may have been affected by the smaller number of male participants or by other factors not measured in the study.

The difference in results could be sex-specific.

How? It could mean that the protection offered by small fish might work best in cancers more commonly suffered by women.

Regardless, the positive benefits were likely to be replicated in countries other than Japan.

Previous studies have “highlighted affordable small fish as a potentially important source of nutrients, especially in developing countries that suffer from severe nutrient deficiency”.