For people suffering from age-related macular degeneration (or AMD, a leading cause of blindness among older Americans), filling up on omega-3 fatty acids may help preserve vision. In a recent study, scientists discovered that eating omega-3-rich oily fish (such as mackerel and salmon) twice weekly helped halt the progression of AMD.

Surveying data on nearly 3,000 people with AMD, the study's authors found that progression to advanced AMD was 25 percent less likely among those who followed a diet high in omega-3s. What's more, study members who stuck to foods low on the glycemic index and who took antioxidant supplements seemed to cut their odds of AMD progression by up to 50 percent.

Available in supplement form, omega-3 fatty acids may also prevent or manage conditions like depression, seasonal allergies, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma.

Meditation may help hone your visual memory, suggests a new study. For their research, scientists zeroed in on two types of Buddhist meditation: Deity Yoga (in which participants focus on an image of a deity) and Open Presence (in which participants avoid concentrating on any specific image and attempt to evenly distribute their attention while meditating).

In a series of experiments, both types of meditation practitioners (along with a group of nonmeditators) engaged in tasks that tested their visual memory (e.g., the ability to hold an image in memory and then identify it among other similar images later on). After finishing up their first round of tasks, the meditation practitioners meditated for 20 minutes while the nonmeditators rested. Both groups then completed a second round of tasks.

The study's results showed that all the participants performed similarly on the first round of tests. However, in the second round, practitioners of Deity Yoga had a remarkable improvement in performance. According to the study's authors, these findings hint that meditation may show promise in treatment of memory loss.

Green tea contains compounds that may slow the progression of prostate cancer, a new study finds.

The study included 26 men (ages 41 to 72) who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and scheduled to undergo radical prostatectomy (a major surgery that removes the entire prostate gland, as well as some surrounding tissue). For an average of 34.5 days, each of the participants took four capsules of green tea extract daily (the equivalent of drinking about 12 cups of concentrated green tea).

Study results revealed a significant decrease in blood levels of several biomarkers known to signal prostate-cancer progression. What's more, liver function in the participants appeared to remain normal, and few side effects were reported.

Previous research has shown that antioxidants in green tea may reduce prostate-cancer risk in men with high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, an abnormality thought to precede the development of the most common form of prostate cancer.

Red yeast rice —a traditional Chinese remedy created by fermenting red yeast over rice—may help people with high cholesterol, according to recent research.

For the study, scientists assigned 62 people with high cholesterol to 12 weeks of counseling on nutrition and exercise. Half of the study members also took 1,800 mg of red yeast rice in supplement form daily. Prior to the study, all participants had taken prescription statins (a class of drugs designed to lower cholesterol levels) but found that the medication caused severe muscle pain.

By the study's end, participants taking red yeast rice saw their levels of LDL ("bad") cholesterol fall by 27 percent. In comparison, those who didn't receive red yeast rice had only a 6 percent drop in LDL cholesterol.

Past research suggests that red yeast rice helps reduce cholesterol levels by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, an enzyme crucial to cholesterol production.