HHS HealthBeat (April 7, 2011)

Fighting sight loss

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Nicholas Garlow with HHS HealthBeat.

Women who consume certain fish containing omega-3 fatty acids have a reduced risk of developing age-related macular degeneration; a condition that impairs vision.

William Christen is an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

“Fish that seem to be most closely associated with the benefit were canned tuna fish and then dark meat fish, such as mackerel, salmon, sardines, bluefish, swordfish.” (11 seconds)

Women with higher omega-3 intakes had greatly reduced the risk of macular degeneration over time.

“Those women in the upper third compared to those who were in the lower third had about a 35 to 40 percent reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration over the ten years of follow up.” (11 seconds)

The study in Archives of Ophthalmology was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Nicholas Garlow.

Last revised: May 7, 2011