A Randomized, Double-Masked, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial of Two Forms of Omega-3 Supplements for Treating Dry Eye Disease

Abstract

A moderate daily dose of both forms of long-chain ω-3 EFAs, for 3 months, resulted in reduced tear osmolarity and increased tear stability in people with DED. Omega-3 EFAs in a predominantly phospholipid form (krill oil) may confer additional therapeutic benefit, with improvements in DED symptoms and lower basal tear levels of interleukin 17A, relative to placebo.

Optical Coherence Tomography Reveals Changes to Corneal Reflectivity and Thickness in Individuals with Tear Hyperosmolarity

“…25 Eligibility criteria for the control (normo-osmolar) group were consistent with those proposed by Miller and colleagues 26 for symptoms (OSDI < 13) and by Lemp and colleagues 27 for tear osmolarity (<308 mOsmol/L).…”

Omega‐3 supplementation is neuroprotective to corneal nerves in dry eye disease: a pilot study

“…Participants were recruited from the University of Melbourne eye care clinic (Victoria, Australia), a communitybased optometry clinic, and all provided written informed consent to participate in the study. Eligibility criteria, which have been previously reported in detail, 19 enabled the recruitment of adults with moderate DED, defined as an Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) symptom score ≥ 18 and < 65 and tear osmolarity ≥ 316 mOsmol/L in at least one eye. In addition, potential participants needed to have distance best-corrected visual acuity ≥ 20/40 (Snellen equivalent) in each eye and intra-ocular pressure ≤ 21 mmHg in both eyes.…”

“…Data were collected at days 1 (baseline) and 90 AE 7 from 12 participants, being the final enrolments from a larger randomised, double-masked, placebo-controlled clinical trial (Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12614001019695), involving 60 participants, who attended for monthly study visits over 3 months. 19 Corneal nerve data were unable to be captured for earlier enrolments as we acquired the corneal confocal microscope to enable corneal nerve imaging during the latter stages of participant recruitment for the larger study.…”

“…Participants were instructed to maintain their current dietary habits. As previously described, 19 the approximate dietary intake of x-3 EFAs was determined by asking participants about their consumption of x-3-rich foods over the preceding month. Participants were asked to quantify the approximate serving size (25, 50, 100, 150 g) and frequency of consumption of foods containing > 1 g of combined EPA, DHA, docosapentaenoic acid and a-linolenic acid per 100 g edible portion (Australia New Zealand Food Authority, 2011; Nutrient Data Laboratory and Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Centre, 2011).…”

“…Participants were randomly assigned to either placebo (olive oil, 1500 mg/day) or long-chain x-3 EFA supplements (~1000 mg/day eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA] +~500 mg/day docosahexaenoic acid [DHA] in either re-esterified triacylglyceride or phospholipid forms) for 90 days, as previously described. 19 In brief, an independent data manager generated a participant randomisation sequence using a random number generator in Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington, 2007 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/lab/micro soft-research-redmond/). This randomisation schedule was provided to an independent compounding pharmacist (Dartnell's Pharmacy, Victoria, Australia http://www.da rtnellspharmacy.com.au/) who repackaged the study supplements into identical, opaque containers using the randomisation schedule.…”