Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Prevent Macular Degeneration
Eating fish and other omega 3 fatty acids are good for your heart and arteries, but it turns out that consumption of these foods may help to prevent age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Additional clinical trials are required before researchers can advocate routine use of these foods for the prevention of AMD according to a study in June issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of severe vision loss in older patients. There are a some newer effective treatments for some types of AMD, but they have some risk. Ideally, prevention of AMD by decreasing risk factors (for example cigarette smoking) is still an important health strategy.
The possible association between omega-3 fatty acids and prevention of AMD was evaluated by Elaine W-T. Chong, M.B.B.S. (University of Melbourne, Australia) other researchers. They looked at nine different studies that had almost 89,000 patients, of which 3,203 had age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
The study results showed that patients with a higher intake of omega-3 fatty acids in their diet had a 38% lower risk of late (advanced) AMD. There was also an association noted between eating fish two times a week and a decreased risk of both early and late AMD.
The biological explanation for the decreased rate of AMD is believed to be the fact that omega-3 fatty acids, form an integral part of the neural retina. AMD may be associated with an omega-3 fatty acid deficiency which prevents part of the process of regeneration of these outer nerve cells of the retina. Omega-3 fatty acids and fish which contain long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, may be a means to prevent AMD.
The authors conclude that their analysis suggests that eating fish and foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids may be lower the risk of AMD. However, at this time there is not sufficient evidence definitely say that omega-3 fatty acids will prevent AMD. Eating fish is already good for your cardiovascular health so if they additionally will help reduce the chances of getting age-related macular degeneration then that is worth the effort to increase the intake of these compounds.
ref:
http://archopht.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/126/6/826
