London - Fish oils could hold the key to saving the sight of thousands of pensioners by protecting their eyes from a common degenerative condition
Experiments show that the omega-3 fatty acids, abundant in oily fish, help stop tiny blood vessels from bleeding into the retina at back of the eye.
The finding is crucial as this damage is behind a range of conditions which can affect sight.
These include many cases of age-related macular
degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of blindness in the elderly.
It affects more than 600 000 Britons but there is no cure.
The research from Harvard Medical School focused on “wet AMD”, the most serious form.
The study found that a diet rich in omega-3 cut damage to the retinal blood vessels in mice with an AMD-like eye disease. It is not clear if taking supplements alone would be enough to save patients’ sight as the body may find it harder to process omega-3 as we age. But the findings point to a drug related to fish oil, it was reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The healthy fats are found in mackerel, trout, herring, sardines, tuna and salmon
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