Eat fish !

Eat fish, not fat to help prevent macular degeneration

Vision improved when the chips are down

http://www.douglassreport.com/dailydose/dd...dd20021008.html


According to a study by Johanna Seddon, M.D., associate professor of ophthalmology at Harvard School of Medicine, "people who ate more processed foods of any type on a daily basis - foods high in vegetable, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats - were at higher risk for macular degeneration. Those foods that were highest in a type of fat called linoleic acid - found primarily in snack foods like potato chips - seemed to put people at even higher risk."

The bottom line according to Dr. Seddon: "Eat fish, not fat. Eat fish two or more times a week." Since the retina (the back of the inner surface of the eye chamber) contains large amounts of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), it is believed to be essential to good vision. Fish contains large amounts of DHA, so the assumption is that eating fish will contribute to improved vision.

What Dr. Seddon should have said was: "Eat fatty fish and fatty meat - pork, beef, lamb, chicken - at least once a day." When researchers at Harvard say that, we can begin to hope that mainstream medicine has really turned the corner and is headed back to a rational, scientifically based approach to nutrition, and away from commercially based pseudoscience.

If you have a family history of macular degeneration, get checked early for the disease, especially if you have other known risk factors, such as smoking. You should also base your diet primarily on animal protein and fat. Take a daily dose of the following: 500 milligrams of vitamin C, 400 IU of vitamin E, 15 milligrams of betacarotene, 80 milligrams of zinc, and 2 milligrams of copper.