The analysis, which appeared in the American Journal of Medicine, is the latest report that ties fish consumption to a number of possible health benefits.
Researchers from China's Xijing Hospital of Digestive Diseases combined the results from 41 studies from the United States, Norway, Japan, Finland and elsewhere, published between 1990 and 2011, that measured fish consumption and tracked cancer diagnoses. "Our findings [...] suggest that fish consumption is inversely associated with colorectal cancer," the researchers wrote. Overall, they say, regularly eating fish was tied to a 12 percent lower risk of developing or dying of colon or rectal cancer.
People who ate the highest amounts of fish had a 21 percent lower risk of getting rectal cancer than those who ate the least. According to Independent Newspapers, the new study focused specifically on fresh fish, and the authors noted that they were unable to pinpoint what types of fish people ate or the manner in which fish was prepared in the prior studies.
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