Omega-3s, DHA, and plant-based eye nutrition with Rani Banik, M.D., and Brian Clement, Ph.D., L.N.

[00:00:00]highly concentrated with with DHA. So, we need a we need a constant supply of that because again, our retinal cells are constantly turning over with light energy processing. And um beyond that, we know that omega-3 rich diets can help prevent dry eye. They can also help prevent macular degeneration. Um so uh and then there's some more recent work work that's also shown that some of the other omegas for example omega 7 palminoleic acid and omega 9 oleic acid can also be beneficial for dry eye. So I always tell my patients just as you talk as you were talking about having these nuts and seeds as part of your diet really mix it up. Um have lots of a variety of nuts um seeds chia hemp flax as you mentioned. Um, if you eat fish, fish is also good to include in your diet to at least twice a week. Um, uh, farm uh, not not farm raised, but wild caught fish. And, um, and get those omegas in. And, uh, if you need to take a supplement. I mean, personally, I happen to be vegetarian, so I don't have fish, but I, um, I have, uh, an alkal oil uh, based algo based omega supplement.

[00:01:13]>> Yeah. And and let me let me emphasize that there's no need to have fish, but I appreciate the empathy you have for a lot of the listeners out there today. Uh several of I've written 35 books and several of the books point out that if I were to give you something to harm you, fish is probably at the top of the list because we now know that it enhances fish oil and fish cardiovascular disease. from major studies, you have more heart attacks and strokes when you take fish and fish oil. We know that prostate cancer high grade goes up 71% moderate grade goes up 42%. So I would avoid that. Now my favorite of all oils uh that by the way fish get the DHA and DHEA from is algae.

[00:02:04]>> And the best one I found is from Norway.

[00:02:06]You get on the internet and look it up.

[00:02:08]It's Zeno. Z I N Z I N O Z I N Z I N O.

[00:02:15]And you know, we do the the one we use here that's not fish oil. I went to Israel and spent some time with the he's a really interesting uh research PhD research scientist that found something called clary sage oil and and the Mediterranean. But he's also an active farmer. He has big farm. So when I met him, he's in farm clothes like a farmer.

[00:02:37]And he's talking to me about all this incredible science that he's doing. And so the clary sage oil, you get a very beautiful balance of all of these things. And it's healthy for your energy and your brain and everything else. And and let me ask you one question. We can be brief on this because we keep interluding Stephen there. Uh what do you think that the lack of the omega especially omega 6 is why this area can fold?

[00:03:07]I I hear people often talk to me about their iris folded. Is it the iris that folds or what is it that folds becomes like an accordion?

[00:03:17]>> I'm not quite sure. Uh maybe they're talking about the macula because you can get >> maybe macular but it's >> yeah you can get a macular what we call a macular pucker which is some like almost like a a very thin layer of scar tissue on top of the retina. It's almost like it's clear so it's almost like saran wrap like a very fine clear membrane that can cause traction and pull. So maybe that's what they're mentioning.

[00:03:41]>> Yeah. And that really distorts it.

[00:03:44]People describe it to me like a hallucinate genenic trip.

[00:03:49]>> Yes, it can cause distortion of vision.

[00:03:51]Yeah, similar to what I was describing before, but for a different reason. So instead of underneath the retina, the problem is on top of the retina, but it can cause a very similar type of visual disturbance.

[00:04:02]>> And you and am I correct in assuming that that may be a lack of the essential fats?

[00:04:07]>> I'm not sure about the essential flats fats. I'm I'm thinking that it's more inflammatory. Um, I typically see this happen in patients who've had some kind of ocular inflammation or they've had surgery in the past and they developed this macular pucker. So, I do think it's some kind of injury to the retina or the the surface of the retina that's causing this type of um scar tissue that's developing.

[00:04:30]>> So, long-term attack by the immune system.

[00:04:33]>> Yes.

[00:04:34]>> Um, what do we do to avoid glaucoma? Is that um an eye issue or is that a body issue that ends up in your eyes? How do you avoid that?

[00:04:47]>> Yeah, it's a great question. So, glaucoma is mainly an eye issue. I mean, of course, if you don't see well because of glaucoma, then you can have other issues as well elsewhere in the body. uh but we we describe glaucoma as damage to the optic nerve in a specific pattern and the pattern is that the damage causes loss of peripheral vision. So almost the opposite of macular degeneration where macular degeneration affects central vision glaucoma affects your peripheral vision. But similar to macular degeneration in the earliest stages of glaucoma people they don't know that they have it. they really have no symptoms or it's so slow in its progression that people don't realize until it's too late. Another reason to go get your annual eye checkup. Uh but one of the major risk factors for glaucoma is high eye pressure. And we think that the eye pressure builds up because there's some kind of blockage of fluid or drainage uh within the the system of the eye, the drainage system, and it's causing the eye pressure to build up. And then that [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]