Fish oil may help your heart heal after a heart attack. While omega-3 fats are generally recommended as a way to prevent heart disease, new research has found that it could help after a heart attack too. “Normally after a heart attack, part of the heart is starved of oxygen, and that portion never recovers. The remaining healthy tissue starts to compensate for the compromised tissue, but has to work harder to maintain the heart’s normal pumping function. Over time, this overworking can lead to scar tissue and start to restrict even the healthy tissue’s ability to do its job. Kwong and his team found that people taking the high dose of omega-3 fats showed 6% less of this decline in heart function…[and] the people who showed the highest blood levels of the omega-3 fats …showed the greatest reduction in scarring — 13% — compared to those with the lowest levels.” While the study was only done on 360 participants, the results look promising.
