Nobody wants to have a heart attack. But a new study suggests that if you do have one, you’ll recover better if you’ve been taking krill oil.

Rats in Norway were given krill oil supplementation for 14 days (a control group was fed normally) and then induced to have a myocardial Infarction. They were then continued on their respective diets, and reexamined in 7 more weeks.

The group that had krill oil saw much less overall damage long term than the control group. Specifically, their left ventricles were significantly less dialated, and other markers – such as heart weight, lung weight, inflammation, etc. were also significantly more positive in the krill oil group.

The researchers concluded that krill oil supplementation increased Omega-3 fatty acid levels in the heart tissue and this was responsible for the benefit.