Eating fish reduced inflammation and chances for heart and circulatory problems. Doctors are beginning to focus on short-term vs. long-term inflammation. In short-term inflammation due to infection, the immune system releases lymphocytes and neutrophils to attack the invading pathogen. But in long-term, non-infectious inflammation, neutrophil levels remain elevated, leading doctors to measure the ratio of neutrophils to lymphocytes, called the NLR.
In this one-year study of 8,237 healthy participants, those who ate multiple servings of fish weekly had lower neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios, lower long-term, non-infectious inflammation, and were less likely to develop heart or circulatory disease.