Essential Fatty Acids for Eye Health

by Ruth on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 | No Comments

We hear so much about fats, but, fats are good for our health…it’s true. Our bodies cannot function properly without fats! Our bodies need fats. Even our eye health can suffer without the right fats.

Fatty acids are building blocks of fat. Fatty acids are nutrients that we cannot do without. Fatty acids are needed by cells, muscles, nerves, and organs. Fatty acids are needed to produce hormone like compounds. These help regulate our blood pressure, our heart rate, and for our blood clotting.

There are certain fatty acids that are referred to as essential fatty acids, or, (EFAs). Theser are necessary to our diet. Why? Because our body cannot produce them. So, to be healthy, we have to have these fatty acids from food, or supplements.
There are two types of EFAs. These are omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids. Research has discovered that omega-3 fatty acids, in particular, may benefit eye health.

How Fatty Acids Affect the Eyes
Deficiencies of omega-3 fatty acids in adults can lead to impaired vision. Studies suggest that prolonged deficiencies may increase the risk of damage to the retina. EFAs (essential fatty acids) also play a role in helping eye fluids (aqueous) drain, which helps regulate intraocular pressure.

If you eat at least two servings of fish every week, or take Omega 3 supplements if you don’t like fish, you are less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of irreversible vision loss among people over 65 in the United States.

Those in the study who consumed the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids, pro primarily from fish, had a 39 percent lower risk of AMD compared with those who ate the least fish (Archives of Ophthalmology, May 2007).

In a 2005 a study, conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston (a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School), showed:

Women with the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids in their diets reduced their risk of dry eye syndrome (DES) by 20 percent, compared with women with the lowest levels of omega-3 in their diet.

“Based on this report, preventing dry eye syndrome is another potential reason to follow a diet rich in tuna and other foods plentiful in omega-3 fatty acids,” study author Debra Schaumberg, OD, MPH, said in the October 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Sealogix is produced by Trilogy a ten year old company in the business of making advanced nutritional products for people and pets. Scientific studies have provided much information about the benefits of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids of the type found in fish oils. The problem was that fish oils were loaded with toxins and oxidation. Now this problem has been solved with the creation of true pharmaceutical grade fish oil. Sealogix is a highly refined nutritional supplement containing generous quantities of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.