Originally published February 8 2006
Harvard study finds eating tuna regularly protects women from eye problems
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A recent study by Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Schepens Eye Research Institute at Harvard Medical School has determined that eating tuna at least five times a week can help women reduce their chances of developing dry-eye syndrome.
Phyllis Knapp, a secretary from Kalamazoo, Mich., knows all too much about an ocular condition called dry-eye syndrome.
During breaks at work she'd cover her eyes with a cold compress to get relief.
Finally, the distraction became so unrelenting that she left her job.
"There's no relief from it; the only relief you get is when you shut your eyes," she says.
It can't be cured with a few eye drops, and it leaves its sufferers with burning eyes, blurred vision and the need to protect their eyes from the elements at all times.
Some, including Knapp, reported that their symptoms first occurred after laser eye surgery.
But it especially affects women as they age, most likely the result of hormonal changes that cause them to produce smaller amounts of the lipids that are normally in tears.
According to a recent study by Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Schepens Eye Research Institute at Harvard Medical School, women who reported eating tuna more than five times a week had a 68 percent smaller chance of developing the condition.
Before the study, anecdotal evidence had led doctors and researchers to suspect a link between the inflammation of tissues around the eye that leads to dry-eye syndrome and a high ratio in the body of omega 6 fatty acids (found in cooking oil, butter and mayonnaise) to omega 3 fatty acids (found in the dark flesh of fish).
The lipids help cover the eye in a tear film and keep the water in tears from evaporating too quickly.
For the past eight years he has been recommending that his patients ingest omega 3 fatty acids, either through fish oil or flaxseed-oil supplements.
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