Eating Fish 2 Times a Week Helps Avoid Blindness Risks

The older people get, then their eyesight ability will certainly decrease, and their vision well get more blurred. Whats more worrying is at the age of 40 years and over, threats of vision problems such as cataracts or glaucoma may occur. But do not worry to much, because there is a way to avoid the threat of blindness, which is by regularly eating fish 2 times a week.

Fish are known as a healthy food because it contains nutrient content. Besides that, fish are also free of bad fats. Recent studies shows that by regularly eating fish once or twice a week, people can reduce the risk of blindness due to decreased vision associated with age.

Omega-3 fatty acids which are most commonly found in oil fish like salmon and tuna can help prevent Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), a condition that causes a gradual loss of vision with age.

AMD is caused by damage and death of cells in the macula, which is one part of the retina that is used to look straight ahead.

The disease which mainly occurs in people 40 years or more, decrease eyesight by creating a black spot in the center of vision that will slowly get bigger.

Researchers found that just one or two servings of fish a week can reduce the risk of visual impairment by 42 percent in elder women. These findings support previous studies that showed similar results in men.

The results showed that women who ate omega-3 fatty acids at most (which is found in fish) have a lower risk of AMD’s nearly two-fifths or about 38 percent than women who ate less omega-3 fatty acids.

Omega 3, which is commonly found in food are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), or also can be consumed in supplement form.

“In summary, prospective data from the population of women who are not diagnosed with AMD have shown that consumption of DHA, EPA and fish regularly can significantly reduce the risk of AMD incident,” said the study author, which study was published in the Archives of Ophthalmology journal.

“‘Dark meat’ fish helps most. Lower risk of blindness appears mainly due to the consumption of tuna and dark meat fish like salmon and sardines,” explains lead author, Dr. William Christen of Harvard Medical School, according to the Telegraph.