Eating fish, especially tuna fish, may protect against age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is a currently untreatable disease that causes fuzziness, shadows or other distortions in the center of vision.
Over several years, investigators questioned study participants about their diets and calculated the types of fat and total fat they ate.
Those who ate more fat overall increased their risk of AMD, while those who ate fish reduced their risk of developing the eye disease.
Diets containing saturated fats from animals and unsaturated fats from vegetables were associated with modest increases in the risk of developing AMD, although long-chain fats from fish, especially tuna fish, actually reduced the risk.
A specific fish fat, called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), may help protect and promote healthy retinal function.
It is also concentrated in the retina of the eye. DHA was modestly inversely related to AMD. The intake of fish, the food source of DHA, was also inversely related.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2001;73:209-218
AMD is the most common cause of blindness in this country. Don't you just love it when there is a simple preventive solution for major problems? I sure do.
Some cautions are warranted here. The investigators recommend tuna, but do NOT use tuna. Although it is high in DHA, tuna and salmon are both top of the chain animals and have bioaccumulated heavy metals and toxins like mercury and PCBs to concentrations frequently many times higher than the concentration in the water they were caught.
I have done hundreds of hair analysis and I have seen this many, many times. Believe me it is true.
So what are you to do? My recommendation is to obtain a high quality cod liver oil, which not only has DHA and EPA, but also vitamins D and A. When I say high quality I am not talking about the kind you may remember grandma giving you. The reason that tasted so bad is that it was mostly rancid EPA and DHA, which taste horrible.
The newer versions use high tech processing that prevents oxidation of the fats. My current favorite is Carlsons.
The other option is to use 5,000 mg of chlorella before and after the fish as that will absorb the heavy metals like mercury. Well, you say you have never heard of chlorella or it is far to expensive.