Fwd: Macular Degeneration and Omega-3 fatty acids

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Health Sciences Institute e-Alert

 

July 1, 2003

 

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Dear Reader,

 

Red, white, and blue bunting hung on porch rails; an Uncle

Sam on stilts in a 4th of July parade; kids " drawing " designs

with sparklers in the last light of evening; the grand finale

of a fireworks display - none of these Independence Day

pleasures can be fully enjoyed without the precious gift of

eyesight.

 

In many e-Alerts and HSI Members Alerts we've addressed age- related macular

degeneration (AMD) - one of the most serious

threats causing vision loss. Approximately 800,000 new cases

of AMD are diagnosed in the U.S. alone every year.

 

But research has shown that the number might be considerably

lower if everyone who's at high risk added a few simple

supplements to their regimen. Now a new study reveals how a

simple dietary change may also significantly help lower the

risk of AMD.

 

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Baking & broiling

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Age-related macular degeneration is a disorder of the center

of the retina, called the macula. The two types of this

disorder are dry AMD (the most typical), and the far more

debilitating wet AMD in which blood vessels begin to grow in

areas of the macula where they shouldn't be, creating

bleeding and scar tissue that lead to severe vision loss.

 

In previous e-Alerts I've told you about research reports

from the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) - a major,

ongoing clinical trial sponsored by the National Eye

Institute (NEI), one of the federal government's National

Institutes of Health.

 

A new round of research recently examined the dietary

information of more than 4,500 AREDS subjects, aged 60-80

years. NEI scientists analyzed the results of omega-3 fatty

acid consumption through fish intake on subjects whose AMD

status ranged from healthy and free of AMD to severe cases.

 

After variables such as individual medical characteristics

and demographic information were accounted for, two striking

results stood out: Subjects that ate one or more servings of

fish each week (four ounces of tuna, or the same amount of

broiled or baked fish) reduced their chances of developing

wet AMD by about one-third, while subjects that consumed more

than two weekly fish servings cut their chances of wet AMD in

half.

 

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Fry no more

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I mentioned those at high risk above. As the name of the

disorder implies, age is the primary risk factor, with people

over the age of 60 being in the greatest danger. Other risk

factors include cigarette smoking and a history of immediate

family members with AMD. And in the e-Alert " Mainstream's

Blindness On Macular Degeneration " (2/20/02), I told you how

the use of prescription blood pressure drugs called ACE

inhibitors actually create a greater AMD risk than smoking

does. Finally, women are also at somewhat more risk than men.

 

So if you are in any of these groups and you decide to

increase your fish consumption, or take a fish oil

supplement, make note of the fact that how you prepare your

fish makes a difference.

 

The AMD benefits found with fish intake in the AREDS trial

were with baked or broiled fish and canned tuna. This recalls

the e-Alert " David Beats Goliath Again " (5/15/03), in which I

told you about a University of Washington study that

demonstrated how those who regularly ate tuna and other baked

or broiled fish (3 or more times per week) had a

significantly lower risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) than

those who ate the same fish infrequently. Those who regularly

ate fried fish, however, had a higher risk of both heart

attack and death due to CHD.

 

The common denominator of the AREDS study and the University

of Washington study is the omega-3 fatty acid content of the

fish - recognized in both studies as being the active agent

that successfully controlled both CHD and AMD. But even

though the AREDS study made no mention of fried fish, I think

we can safely jump to the conclusion that a fried fish intake

will probably not deliver the same level of AMD prevention

that canned tuna or baked and broiled fish provides.

 

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Bring the antioxidants

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As I mentioned above, in addition to increasing your fish

consumption or taking a fish oil supplement, there are

natural supplements that you can start taking today to

protect your eyes against the onset of AMD. This certainly

isn't new information but it still bears repeating.

 

In the e-Alert " Study Proves Supplements can Save your Sight "

(10/18/01) I told you about another AREDS trial in which

researchers examined dietary data of more than 3,500

participants between the ages of 55 and 80 to examine the

effect that antioxidant supplements have on AMD. Researchers

concluded that high levels of zinc and antioxidants were

shown to significantly reduce the risk of AMD, and the same

supplements (if administered in the early stages of AMD) may

also inhibit the total amount of vision loss that would

normally be caused by advanced AMD.

 

The AREDS team recommended that anyone at high risk of

developing AMD should consider taking daily supplements in

these same amounts used in the study: vitamin C (500 mg);

vitamin E (400 IU); beta-carotene (15 mg); zinc (80 mg); and

copper (2mg).

 

In addition, there are whole foods that may help lower your

AMD risk, including: yellow-orange vegetables, green leafy

vegetables and blueberries. Bilberry (a European cousin of

the blueberry) is an excellent antioxidant botanical that's

also very good for the eyes, and especially the macula. You

may have trouble finding fresh bilberries, but your local

health food store likely carries bilberry as a tablet or

liquid extract.

 

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On to Tahoma

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If you're in one of the AMD risk groups, you'll probably do

your eyes a world of good if you add more fish to your diet,

in addition to the foods and supplements mentioned above. As

HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., wrote in the October 2002

Members Alert: " Don't believe anyone who tells you that

there's no effective treatment for macular degeneration. "

 

In answering a member's question about AMD, Dr. Spreen

recommended a regimen of mineral and antioxidant vitamin

supplements that Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., uses in his Tahoma

Clinic in Washington state. For more information, see " Stop

or Reverse Macular Degeneration " on the home page of Dr.

Wright's Tahoma Clinic web site at tahoma-clinic.com. And for

information about Dr. Wright's " Nutrition & Healing "

newsletter, visit wrightnewsletter.com.

 

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To Your Good Health,

 

Jenny Thompson

Health Sciences Institute

 

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Sources:

" Dietary Omega-3 Long-chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and

Risk for Age-related Macular Degeneration " National Eye

Institute, Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision

and Ophthalmology, Program #2112, 5/6/03, abstractsonline.com

" Fish Oil Benefits Your Eyes " Daniel DeNoon, WebMD Medical

News, 5/8/03, content.health.msn.com

" Not Any Old Fish Food Will Reduce Heart Attacks " Dr. Joseph

Mercola, 4/30/03, mercola.com

" Cardiac benefits of fish consumption may depend on the type

of fish meal consumed: the Cardiovascular Health Study. "

Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, 2003

Mar 18;107(10);1372-7, circ.ahajournals.org

 

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