I see a lot of people with dry eyes – where their optician has said they don’t make enough tears. As tempted as I am to say I’ll give ’em a punch in the face and that’ll bring the tears on (just kidding!), I don’t, but I will suggest they up their oil intake.
Dry eye disorder affects about 10-30% of the population, especially those older than 40. A new report in the journal Cornea suggests that omega-3 fatty acid supplementation can help. In an albeit small pilot study, patients with dry eyes were given fish oil (450 mg of EPA, 300 mg of DHA), and flaxseed oil (1000 mg) daily for 90 days. A total of 36 patients (21 in the active group and 15 in the placebo group) with dry eye completed the study. A huge 70% of the patients no longer had dry eyes, compared to only 7% receiving the placebo.
More research is clearly needed but that’s quite a dramatic clue that omega 3 may help.
Reference:
Wojtowicz JC, Butovich I, Uchiyama E, et al. A Pilot, Prospective, Randomized, Double-masked, Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial of an Omega-3 Supplement for Dry Eye. Cornea. 2010 Oct 28. [Epub ahead of print]
I was reading yesterday that it was also a perimenopausal symptom. See? I’m not just a pretty face. Okay, I’m not a pretty face, but that was a very useful response to your post, n’est p .. n’ec pas … ne … wasn’t it?
Indeed it is. Go to the top of the class.