"Many heart doctor will tell you that one of the best ways to keep your heart healthy is to include more healthy oils httptime.complantssciencehealthierdietbestclimate such as omega fatty acids httptime.comfishoilomegaantidepressants found in fish in your diet. Studies have shown that people in parts of the world who eat more fish have lower rates of heart disease and fewer heart attacks though the same cant necessarily be true of those who take supplementssee this piece Fish Oil Is Hugely PopularBut Should You Take It httpstimeinc.slack.comfilesaliceparkFWFVKZUZcstl____article.pdf for more on that. One thing that has been less clear is what role fish oil plays in people who have already had a heart attack. Can omega fat provide similar benefit Researchers led by Dr. Raymond Kwong at Brigham and Womens Hospital wanted to find out so they took advantage of more sophisticated imaging techniques that can provide detailed pictures of the heart and how its changing in the days and weeks after a heart attack. For the study published in the journal Circulation they studied nearly  people who recently had a heart attack who were randomly assigned to take g of omega fatty acids or a placebo pill for six months. Thats a high dose a  oz. portion of salmon contains anywhere from half a gram to g of omega. Every two months the volunteers came in for an MRI of their heart to track how much the muscle was changing. 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 hearts normal pumping function. Over time this overworking can lead to scar tissue and start to restrict even the healthy tissues ability to do its job. Kwong and his team found that people taking the high dose of omega fats showed  less of this decline in heart function than those taking placebo. Whats more the people who showed the highest blood levels of the omega fats people absorb it at different rates showed the greatest reduction in scarring    compared to those with the lowest levels. The effects remained strong even after the researchers accounted for the fact that all of the people were taking standard heart disease treatment drugs including cholesterollowering statins and blood pressure medications. The omega fatty acids seem to be preventing scarring of the otherwise healthy muscle that now has to overwork because of the heart attack says Kwong. Based on analysis of their blood samples the people taking omega supplements also showed lower levels of inflammatory markers httptime.cominflammationhealtheffects which suggests that the fish oil may be working by reducing inflammation following a heart attack. Its the first encouraging strategy for protecting the heart after a heart attack the more remaining healthy tissue that can be saved the stronger the heart will be. Kwong says that the findings are only the first step toward considering whether omega fatty acid supplements should be part of every emergency heart attack response. The g is a high dose previous studies in which people were given g of fish oil were more inconsistent. Most of the people also started taking the supplements two to four weeks after their heart attack. Might they have benefit more if they had started taking the supplements sooner How much omega is needed to start remodeling the heart in a beneficial way These are questions Kwong and others hope to answer with more studies. Kwong collected blood samples from the volunteers and will be studying them for hints about how omega fatty acids are working in the body after a heart attack. To say every heart attack patient should be taking omega fatty acids right away is a bit premature he says. But I do think its logical that our results hold promise and may reduce bad outcomes in patients after a heart attack."