Dry Eye Syndrome Information

Introduction

There are many conditions in Western industrialised societies today that were unheard of, or at least very rare, just a century ago. The same conditions are still unheard of in primitive peoples who do not have the 'benefits' of our knowledge. There is a very good reason for this: They eat what Nature intended; we don't. The diseases caused by our incorrect and unnatural diets are those featured on these pages.

Dietary causes:

Many millions of people in the industrialised countries, predominantly women, suffer from dry eye syndrome, a painful and debilitating eye disease. Dry eye syndrome is characterised by a decline in the quality or quantity of tears that normally bathe the eye to keep it moist and functioning well. The condition causes symptoms such as pain, irritation, and a sandy or gritty sensation. If untreated, severe dry eye syndrome can lead to scarring or ulceration of the cornea, and loss of vision. Victims may experience symptoms so severe that reading, driving, working and other vision-related activities of daily life are difficult or impossible.

In the first study of its kind to examine modifiable risk factors, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Schepens Eye Research Institute, an affiliate of Harvard University Medical School and the largest independent eye research institute in the world, found that the amount, type and ratio of essential fatty acids in the diet may play a key role in dry eye prevention in women. [1]

This study set out to examine how changing dietary habits in America, primarily a shift in the balance of essential fatty acids they are consuming, may be associated with onset of this eye disease. What it found was that a high intake of omega-6 fatty acids of the type found in margarines, cooking and salad oils, increased the risk of dry eye syndrome. On the other hand, omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils and walnuts, reduced the risk, as of course does reducing intakes of vegetable margarines and oils.

References

[1] . Miljanovic B, Trivedi KA, Dana MR, et al. Relation between dietary n–3 and n–6 fatty acids and clinically diagnosed dry eye syndrome in women. Am J Clin Nutr 2005 82: 887-893.