Dry eyes? Maybe tuna will help
If you suffer from dry eyes - doctors prefer to refer to the condition as dry eye syndrome or dry eye disease - fish oil supplements may help, we wrote a few days ago. Foods with omega-3 fatty acids may also help.
Study
In 2005, researchers from Harvard University published an epidemiological study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in which they analyzed the data of nearly 40,000 women aged 45-84. The data was collected in Women's Health Study.
The researcher looked at the association between the women's diet and the occurrence of dry eye syndrome.
Results
The researchers found an association between the ratio between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in the participants' diets on the one hand and dry eye syndrome on the other.
The more omega-3 fatty acids and the fewer omega-6 fatty acids the participants consumed, the less likely they were to see a doctor with their eye problems and then be officially diagnosed.
When the researchers looked at regular foods in the participants' diets, they found that tuna consumption protected against dry eyes. Study participants who consumed 5 or more servings of tuna each week reduced their risk of dry eye syndrome by a factor of 3 compared to study participants who never ate tuna.
This was to be expected. In the US, tuna is the main dietary source of omega-3 fatty acids.
Mechanism
In the development of dry eye disease, dry eye syndrome or whatever you want to call it, inflammatory reactions probably play a major role. The researchers suspect that these inflammatory reactions decrease as a diet contains less omega-6 and more omega-3 fatty acids.
Source:
Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Oct;82(4):887-93.
If you suffer from dry eyes - doctors prefer to refer to the condition as dry eye syndrome or dry eye disease - fish oil supplements may help, we wrote a few days ago. Foods with omega-3 fatty acids may also help.
Study
In 2005, researchers from Harvard University published an epidemiological study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in which they analyzed the data of nearly 40,000 women aged 45-84. The data was collected in Women's Health Study.
The researcher looked at the association between the women's diet and the occurrence of dry eye syndrome.
Results
The researchers found an association between the ratio between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in the participants' diets on the one hand and dry eye syndrome on the other.
The more omega-3 fatty acids and the fewer omega-6 fatty acids the participants consumed, the less likely they were to see a doctor with their eye problems and then be officially diagnosed.
When the researchers looked at regular foods in the participants' diets, they found that tuna consumption protected against dry eyes. Study participants who consumed 5 or more servings of tuna each week reduced their risk of dry eye syndrome by a factor of 3 compared to study participants who never ate tuna.
This was to be expected. In the US, tuna is the main dietary source of omega-3 fatty acids.
Mechanism
In the development of dry eye disease, dry eye syndrome or whatever you want to call it, inflammatory reactions probably play a major role. The researchers suspect that these inflammatory reactions decrease as a diet contains less omega-6 and more omega-3 fatty acids.
Source:
Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Oct;82(4):887-93.
