Source: Thailand Medical News Dec 12, 2019 5 years, 1 week, 3 days, 4 hours, 8 minutes ago
According to a new study by Loughborough University,England,
Fish oil supplements can significantly improve '
night vision'. The researchers wanted to know whether
docosahexanoic acid (
DHA), a polyunsaturated fatty acid found in
fish oils, improved 'dark adaptation capabilities' ie the process the eyes go through when adjusting to new light levels.
Docosahexanoic acid or
DHA, found in mackerel, herring, tuna and halibut, is known to be present in high concentrations in the retina but is not synthesised in the body.
For the study, a group of 19 participants were asked to identify a series of numbers, of ever-decreasing brightness, shown to them on a handheld meter and the results were recorded.
Subsequently, they took four omega-3 tablets every day for four weeks, each tablet contained 260mg
DHA and 780mg EPA (another fatty acid which is converted to
DHA).
The participants visited the labs again and repeated the same test after the four week dosing period. Researchers found that, on average, people were able to identify images that were 25% fainter the second time around after the course of
fish oil.
Shockingly,six weeks after finishing the supplements, their '
night vision' returned to original levels.
Dr. Paul Kelly and Dr. Jim Reynolds, of the School of Science, and the lead authors said that by analysing blood levels before, during and after, the team were able to directly link fatty acid levels in the body to changes in visual capability.
"This is the first-time dark adaptation has been linked to
fish oil's fatty acids via direct measurement of amounts making it into the blood. The rise and fall in the levels of the acids mirrors the rise and fall in visual acuity. You could imagine this finding benefitting anyone who requires their
night vision to be as good as possible such as the police, people in the military, forensic scientists looking for fluorescent evidence in the dark for example.” commented Dr Kelly in a phone interview with
Thailand Medical News.
Dr Kelly added, "The 25% figure is a significant improvement in someone's capabilities, especially given that it comes via a simple supplement regimen. Ideally, the next phase of this work would be to extend the range of individuals tested this way alongside placebos in order to give a bigger data set to analyse. It would also be interesting to look at the extent to which foodstuffs, as opposed to
supplements, can provide enough of the required acids and whether maintenance of the effects can be monitored through the simple handheld meter cutting out the needs for blood analysis."
<
;span style="font-size:11px">Reference : Beth McMurchie et al. Shedding Light on the Effect of Fish Oil Supplementation on Dark Adaptation Capabilities, (2019).
DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv.11302613.v1
