Singapore: breast milk helps to prevent myopia

Some researchers at the Singapore Eye Research Institute have carried out a research on 797 children between 10 and 12 years of age. Medical tests and a series of questions, including how many books they read in a week, have revealed that breastfed children are 50% less likely to become shortsighted.

In fact, docosahexaenoic acid or DHA, a substance found in breast milk, could be the main element that improves the early development of sight in newborns. It seems that DHA is also important for the development of the photoreceptor cells in the retina, which play an important role in myopia.

Myopia affects around 40% of the population of the United States and Europe, and between 70 and 90% of the population of some Asian countries such as Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong.

(Source: Reuters)