Fish oil new wonder treatment for diabetes related blindness
Fish oil or omega 3 fatty acid has been described as the wonder oil reducing symptoms of heart disease, arthritis, depression, and diabetes. Now American researchers say omega 3 can protect diabetes sufferers from losing their eyesight.
Jennifer Macey on ABC’s AM program on 10 February, interviewed Dr Lois Smith, Professor of ophthalmology at the Harvard Medical School in the United States.
Professor Smith said that virtually all people who have diabetes for long enough will get retinopathy, which causes blindness.
Previous studies had shown that retinopathy, which is caused by leaky blood vessels in the retina, is slowed down in people who eat a lot of fish.
Omega 3 supplements are $10 a month compared to the commonly used drugs which cost $4,000 a month had as big an effect as the current drugs that are used in these diseases, so this is huge in terms of increasing medical costs that are occurring in all countries.
Professor Smith found that omega 3 slowed down its progress, caused more normal blood vessel growth and directly inhibited the abnormal blood vessel growth.
The study has been published in the latest edition of Science Translational Medicine.
