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Eating
lots of fish packed with healthy omega-3 fatty acids could
help to prevent the vision loss, new research suggests.
Among 1,837 people who had early signs of age-related
macular degeneration (AMD), those with the highest
consumption of omega-3 fatty acids were 30 percent less
likely to progress to the advanced form of the disease over
a 12-year period than those with the lowest omega-3 intake,
researchers found. While there are some drug treatments for
the disease, they add, these medications have limited
effectiveness, are expensive, and can lead to serious
complications. Because inflammation is likely to be involved
in AMD progression, and omega-3 fatty acids have
anti-inflammatory effects, they add, these nutrients have
the potential to help slow the progress of disease. To
investigate, the researchers analyzed data from the
Age-Related Eye Disease Study, a clinical trial run by the
National Institutes of Health to investigate nutrition-based
approaches to preventing and treating AMD. All of the study
participants were free of advanced AMD in at least one eye,
but did have some degree of earlier stage disease. Over the
course of 12 years, about 20 percent of people in the
current study developed "dry" AMD, in which the tissue at
the center of the retina disappears. Another 32 percent
developed "wet" AMD, or neovascular AMD, in which abnormal
blood vessels grow in the macula. People who consumed the
largest amounts of the two main dietary types of omega-3
fatty acids -- docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and
eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) -- were about 30 percent less
likely to develop either wet or dry AMD than people with the
lowest intake, the researchers found. Those who consumed the
most DHA and EPA got about 11 percent of their calories from
omega-3s, compared to about 1 percent for people with the
lowest intake. "Our results, if confirmed by other studies
and extended by clinical trials, may guide the development
of low-cost, easily implemented, and widely accepted
interventions to prevent the progression to advanced AMD,"
the research team concluded.
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