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Chalk up another possible health benefit of eating
fish: prevention of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause
of irreversible blindness in the US.
The macula is the central portion of the retina in
the eye and when it is damaged, visual problems -- including blindness
-- are the unfortunate result.
Australian researchers found that more frequent consumption
of fish appeared to protect against late age-related macular degeneration.
Only a moderate intake of fish was necessary for the protective effect.
Those who ate fish one
to three times a month had about half the risk
of late-stage disease than those who ate fish less than once a month.
And more fish was not necessarily better.
The greatest amount of protection was seen in those
who ate one serving of fish a week, and there was no additional benefit
of consuming more.
The investigators note that eating too much fish may
interfere with the absorption of vitamin E in the elderly, which could
explain the threshold protective effect from dietary fish.
Archives of Ophthalmology
March, 2000;118:401-404
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