Eating oily fish once a week may reduce age-related macular degeneration(AMD) which is the major cause of blindness and poor vision in adults inwestern countries and the third cause of global blindness, according toa study published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
There are two types of AMD, wet and dry. Of the two, wet AMD is the maincause of vision loss. A team of researchers across seven Europeancountries and co-ordinated by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicinesought to investigate the association between fish intake and omega 3 fattyacids with wet AMD, comparing people with wet AMD with controls. Participants wereinterviewed about their dietary habits including how much fish they ate and what type.Information on the main omega 3 fatty acids (docosahexaenoicacid (DHA) andeicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) was obtained by linking dietary data with foodcomposition tables.
The findings show that people who habitually consume oily fish at leastonce a week compared with less than once a week are 50% less likely tohave wet AMD. There was no benefit from consumption of non oily white fish.There was a strong inverse association between levels of DHA and EPA andwet AMD. People in the top 25% of DHA and EPA levels (300 mg per day andabove) were 70% less likely to have wet AMD.
Astrid Fletcher, Professor of Epidemiology at the London School ofHygiene & Tropical Medicine, who led the study, commented: "This is the firststudy in Europeans to show a beneficial association on wet AMD from theconsumption of oily fish and is consistent with results from studies inthe USA and Australia. Two 3oz servings a week of oily fish, such as salmon,tuna or mackerel, provides about 500 mg of DHA and EPA per day".
The research team is not, however, recommending omega 3 supplements asthe study did not investigate whether supplements would have the samebenefit as dietary sources.