Everyone knows eating fish is good for you, but now researchers writing in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (i) say it could help prevent you going blind too. Eating oily fish just once a week could be enough to halve your chances of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD) – a leading cause of blindness and vision problems among older people living in the West.

19/08/2008 That's Health

And since no such effect was seen in people eating non-oily fish, the researchers believe it could all be down to the omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish, namely eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

Their findings show that people who eat oily fish once a week may be 50 percent less likely to develop wet AMD, the form of the disease that's the main cause of vision loss, compared to those who eat less than one portion a week. Others who eat more than one portion of oily fish a week are up to 70 percent less likely to develop wet AMD.

"This is the first study in Europeans to show a beneficial association on wet AMD from the consumption of oily fish and is consistent with results from studies in the USA and Australia," says Astrid Fletcher, Professor of Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who led the study. "Two 3oz servings a week of oily fish, such as salmon, tuna or mackerel, provides about 500 mg of DHA and EPA per day".

It's not the first time omega-3 fatty acids have been found to be good for vision. An animal study published in the journal Nature Medicine (ii) last year suggested omega-3 fatty acids, including EPA, could protect your eyes against retinopathy (or deterioration of the retina), which is another leading cause of blindness.

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