Omega-3 Fatty Acids Aid Healing After a Heart Attack, New Study Finds

Taking the Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil every day for six months following a heart attack improved the function of the heart and reduced scarring in the undamaged muscle, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s Journal Circulation.

The heart’s function and shape can be altered after a person suffers a heart attack, a condition known as post-heart attack remodeling and it is linked with poor patient outcomes and could lead to heart failure.

 

It is rare to find therapies and treatments that can improve healing of the heart or prevent adverse remodeling. A previous study found that omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil were associated with improved survival for heart attack patients.

 

However, it was not known if the role of omega-3 fatty acids improved the structure of the tissue in patients receiving guideline-based therapy after suffering a heart attack.

 

In the new Omega-Remodel trial, researchers discovered that compared to people taking a placebo, patients taking a dose of four grams of omega-3 fatty acids daily for months, had the following:

 

- A 5.8 percent reduction in left ventricular end-systolic volume index: a clinical marker that can predict patient outcome after a heart attack
- a 5.6 percent reduction in a measurement of scarred connective tissue (fibrosis) formation in the non-damaged heart muscle.

 

“Heart failure is still a major problem after a heart attack despite all the therapy we have and the advances in interventional care, says Raymond Y Kwong, senior author of the study and director and associate professor of medicine at Harvard medical School. “Our findings show that omega-3 fatty acids are a safe and effective treatment in improving cardiac remodeling, so it may be promising in reducing the incidence of heart failure or death, which are still major healthcare burdens to patients who suffer a heart attack.”

 

The study was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and involved 360 heart attack survivors. Half were given a high dose of omega-3 fatty acids and half placebo, beginning within a month of the heart attack. All participants were closely monitored through the research.

 

The results suggest omega-3 fatty acids allow the heart to contract better as well as reducing fibrosis in the undamaged region.

 

Both groups of participants were treated based on guidelines issued by the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association. Blood tests were used to confirm that patients taking omega-3 fatty acids were properly doing so.