Bill Harvey: Omega-3's effect on eye health

The problem of whether to trust scientific research is a common theme in this comment column. And I do not see an easy option other than to always question the validity of findings. This even applied when research is from a respected source and published in peer-reviewed journals.

A good example of this the well-respected and often-cited AREDS2 study. Many people gleaned from this that omega-3 had no benefit in reducing the risk of progression of age-related macular degeneration.

It was only after discussion of the paper that many authorities noted that the patients under study were sampled from the affluent North American population and were likely to already have levels of omega-3 in their existing diet that might have masked any impact of supplementation when compared to controls from the same group.