Oily Fish Consumption May Prevent Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Consumption of oily fish has already been demonstrated to confer a wide range of health benefits– as a brain food, in preventing asthma, in heart health, etc. Here’s another one to add to the list: eating oily fish once a week may reduce your risk of becoming blind in your sunset years due to (wet) age-related macular degeneration.

A team of researchers across seven European countries and co-ordinated by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine sought to investigate the association between fish intake and omega 3 fatty acids with wet AMD, comparing people with wet AMD with controls. Participants were interviewed about their dietary habits including how much fish they ate and what type. Information on the main omega 3 fatty acids (docosahexaenoicacid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) was obtained by linking dietary data with food composition tables.

The findings show that people who habitually consume oily fish at least once a week compared with less than once a week are 50% less likely to have 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 and wet AMD. People in the top 25% of DHA and EPA levels (300 mg per day and above) were 70% less likely to have wet AMD.

Would fish oil supplement do the trick as well? They don’t know.