Dietary fat linked with dry eye syndrome

BOSTON, Oct 19, 2005 (UPI via COMTEX) -- More than 8 million people in the United States, mostly women, suffer from dry eye syndrome and now Boston scientists believe they know what causes it.

Dry eye syndrome is a painful and debilitating eye disease. Now, in the first study of its kind to examine modifiable risk factors, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Schepens Eye Research Institute discovered the amount, type and ratio of essential fatty acids in a woman's diet may play a key role in dry eye prevention.

Lead researcher Dr. Biljana Miljanovic, at BWH, said she and her colleagues examined how changing dietary habits, primarily a shift in the balance of essential fatty acids, affected the eye disease.

"We found that a high intake of omega 3 fatty acids, often referred to as a 'good' fat and commonly found in fish and walnuts, is associated with a protective effect," she said. "Conversely, a higher ratio of omega 6, a fat found in many cooking and salad oils and animal meats, compared to omega 3 in the diet, may increase the risk of dry eye syndrome."

The study is detailed in the October issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

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