AMD inversely associated with saturated fatty acid intake in Japanese population
In a large Japanese population, a significant inverse association was found between saturated fatty acid intake and prevalence of age-related macular degeneration in men.
Intake of monounsaturated fatty acid and polyunsaturated fatty acid was weakly associated with AMD prevalence in men as well. For women, only a marginal association was found between linolenic acid intake and AMD prevalence.
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In the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study for the Next Generation Eye Study, residents of Chikusei, Japan, aged 40 years or older underwent systemic and eye screening, and dietary intake was assessed using a 172-item questionnaire. Presence of AMD was assessed by fundus photographs, graded for AMD severity according to a modified version of the AREDS protocol. A total of 10,788 eyes of 5,394 participants were included in the analysis.
In men, there was an inverse association between intake of total fat and saturated fatty acid (SFA) and the prevalence of any AMD, suggesting that “SFA intake might be below the optimal level in the Japanese population.” Very low SFA intake, according to the authors, “may lead to arteriolosclerosis and, eventually, dysfunction of choroidal perfusion.”
Asian populations have a diet that is less rich in SFA-containing food as compared with Western populations. The mean SFA intake for men in this study, 17.6 g per day, was about half as compared with other surveys assessing the SFA in a U.S. population. This might explain the different association of fatty acid intake with AMD in populations with different dietary habits and genetic backgrounds. The authors therefore recommended a population-specific approach in which “the optimal fatty acid intake amounts should be analyzed in the population of interest, with consideration of their source.”
“Adequate fatty acid intake may be necessary to prevent or decelerate AMD,” they said.
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