Professor Maureen Maguire, an ophthalmologist at the University of Pennsylvania who studied the effect of omega-3 and placebo for dry eye relief, argues that omega-3 is not an effective treatment for dry eye syndrome.
Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplements No Better Than Placebo for Dry Eye
By: U.S Pharmacist Staff
April 25, 2018
Philadelphia, PA—Supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids has been touted for years as an effective treatment for the more than 16 million Americans who suffer from dry eye, which can cause symptoms of burning, itching, or stinging and impair vision.
Those recommendations from clinicians helped fuel a more than $1 billion market in the United States for omega-3 fatty acid supplements, with many formulations sold OTC, although others require a prescription or are available for purchase from a healthcare provider.
Now, a new randomized clinical trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and simultaneously presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in Washington, DC, demonstrates that the fish-derived supplements are no more effective than placebo at alleviating keratoconjunctivitis sicca.
Those results came from the 3-year DREAM study, conducted by the Dry Eye Assessment and Management Study Research Group and led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The study, conducted at 27 universities and private practices throughout the United States, found that even the highest dose of omega-3 supplements ever tested did not improve outcomes for participants.
“Our findings provide evidence that, contrary to a long held belief in the ophthalmic community, omega-3 supplements are not significantly better than a placebo at reducing dry eye symptoms,” explained principal investigator Maureen Maguire, PhD, a professor of ophthalmology at Penn Medicine. “Many patients receiving omega-3 supplements did have substantial improvement in their symptoms, but just as many patients taking placebo had improvements.”
Enrolled in the double-blind trial were 535 participants with at least a 6-month history of moderate-to-severe dry eye; they were randomly assigned to receive either a daily dose of an omega-3 supplement—containing 2,000 mg eicosapentaenoic acid and 1,000 mg docosahexaenoic acid, the highest ever tested for treating dry eye disease—or an olive oil placebo delivered in an identical capsule.
