SUPPLEMENTS rich in omega-3 oils might protect the sight of people with diabetes, a study in rats suggests.
Diabetes is the biggest cause of blindness among working-age adults in the west. To see if omega-3 could help, a team led by Algis Vingrys of the University of Melbourne, Australia, fed rats either omega-3-rich fish oil or safflower oil, which contains very little. To mimic insulin-dependent diabetes, insulin-producing cells were destroyed in half the animals.
After 24 weeks, the response to light of the photoreceptor cells in the retinas of diabetic rats on safflower oil had fallen by a third. “But…
