According to the American Optometric Association, the Dry Eye Assessment and Management (DREAM) study found that omega-3 supplements do not help treat dry eye syndrome because patients on the placebo also improved. This indicates that omega-3 supplements do not benefit dry eyes.
Omega-3 fatty acid dietary supplements: To prescribe or not to prescribe for dry eye?
American Optometric Association
APRIL 24, 2018
New study compares outcomes for fish oil supplements versus olive oil placebo.
Omega-3 fatty acid supplements—commonly recommended for symptom relief for dry eye disease—may not have the beneficial effects previously thought.
Published online April 13 in The New England Journal of Medicine, the Dry Eye Assessment and Management (DREAM) study looked at the efficacy of Omega-3s on dry eye. In a trial, 535 patients with dry eye disease were divided into two groups. Over a 12-month period, one group received daily doses of "active" fish oil supplements (3,000 mg) and the other a placebo (1 teaspoon of olive oil). Participants continued to take their usual interventions for dry eye.
A majority in both groups showed an improvement of at least 10 points on the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), but the National Eye Institute-funded study also found differences in their scores were "not statistically significant"—the mean score for the "active" supplement group was -13.9 points versus -12.5 points for the placebo. Sixty-one % of people receiving the omega-3 supplement improved their OSDI score by 61%, compared with 54% of those in the control group.
"In conclusion, among patients who had moderate-to-severe dry eye disease despite the use of other treatments and were randomly assigned to receive either n-3 fatty acid or placebo supplements, symptoms and signs had improved," researchers write. "We found no evidence of a beneficial effect of n-3 fatty acid supplements as compared with placebo supplements among patients with dry eye disease."
The study group represented departments of ophthalmology at Icahn University School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Case Western Reserve University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Michigan and Minnesota Eye Consultants.
Dry eye disease is one of the most common eye conditions in the U.S. with about 14% of Americans having the condition.
