One of the latest studies showed new evidence that omega-3 fatty acids, found in known fish-oil supplements, might be protecting you against diseases that affect retinal blood vessels, known as retinopathy, according to press and media reports on Tuesday.

The study, which was published online by the journal Nature Medicine on Sunday, got some pretty encouraging results in tests on mice.

In the study, mice were fed meals rich in either omega-3 fatty or omega-6 fatty acids. The researchers found that mice on the omega-3 diet had less blood vessel loss in the retina than the omega-6-fed mice. The blood vessel loss was also cut by up to a 50%.

The researchers will soon start testing the effects in premature babies, who are at risk for vision loss.

It might be benefiting millions of people if the clinical tests find that omega-3 fatty acids is as effective in protecting humans against retinal disease as the findings of this study.

Aside from fish-oil supplements, the most widely available source of omega-3 fatty acids is coldwater oily fish such as wild salmon, herry, mackerel, anchovies, sardines. The compounds can also be made synthetically from algae or other non-fish sources.