Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world, but around 2 million people in the U.S. alone do not know they have the condition, reports the Glaucoma Research Foundation. Glaucoma does not typically cause symptoms. In most cases, your doctor will identify high pressure during an eye exam, and after further testing, might determine you have resulting damage. Knowing how nutrients such as arachidonic acid might affect glaucoma will help you care for your eyes.
Mechanism
Aqueous fluid fills the front section of your eye, the area in front of your iris. Your eye continuously produces this fluid to help nourish and hold structures in place within the eye. As fluid enters, existing aqueous must also drain out to provide a relatively equal balance. If the fluid enters too fast, or if the fluid does not drain properly, this could cause high intraocular pressure.
Damage occurs when this high pressure pushes against the structures and other fluids in the eye, including the blood vessels on the back of the eye that lead to your optic nerve. Reducing the blood flow to the optic nerve could damage these nerve fibers, and because the optic nerve sends visual cues to your brain for interpretation, damage to these fibers typically results in vision loss.
Arachidonic Acid
Arachidonic acid derives from omega-6, a fatty acid that your body uses to function properly. Consuming food products such as vegetable oils that contain arachidonic acid does not have any known effect on eye pressure, but a study conducted at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Medical College of Georgia suggests that arachidonic acid could potentially affect internal eye structures that would improve the outflow of aqueous fluid. Keep in mind that this early testing does not prove definitive connections with arachidonic acid and eye pressure.
Treatment
Although arachidonic acid does not offer a valid treatment option as of June 2011, this form of fatty acid does offer some future possibilities. However, in the meantime, you must continue to use your glaucoma eye drops or other medications to help maintain adequately low pressures to prevent damage to your optic nerve. If your eye pressure does not respond to treatment, or if you experience significant side effects that prohibit treatment with medication, your doctor might recommend a surgical procedure to open the drainage canal to improve outflow of the aqueous fluid.
Considerations
You should not take arachidonic acid supplements or any other form of omega-6 or omega-3 fatty acids unless directed by your doctor. These nutrients could interfere with the actions of certain medications, and your doctor will inform you if you use a medication that could result in complications if coupled with fatty acids.
References
- National Eye Institute; "Facts About Glaucoma"; September 2009
- Omega-3 Learning for Health and Medicine; "University of Connecticut"; Omega-3 Fatty Acid Structures
- "Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science"; "Alterations in Arachidonic Acid Release and Phospholipase C-Beta(1) Expression in Glaucomatous Human Ciliary Muscle Cells"; S. Husain et al; April 2002
- Glaucoma Research Foundation: Glaucoma Facts and Stats
- University of Maryland Medical Center; "Omega-6 Fatty Acids"; Steven Ehrlich; June 2009
