I just got back from a pretty great vacation in Paris. I saw all the sights -- Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Versailles...it was absolutely beautiful. But my trip also reminded me of something I take for granted in the States.

You see, I'm not a smoker. And where I live, people can't smoke in restaurants and bars. I know it's inconvenient for people who do smoke, but I'm going to be honest here -- I'm pretty selfish on this one. I enjoy my smoke-free outings.

Anyway, that's not the case in Paris. Sitting at a sidewalk café, people are free to enjoy a cigarette along with their meals. Suddenly, I was the one being inconvenienced. A lesson in cultural differences, sure, but it also reminded me of some research I read a little while ago.

You might think you're just too old to drop the cigarette habit -- after all, what possible health benefits could you see after a lifetime of smoking? Fortunately, there are plenty -- in fact, it turns out it's never too late to reclaim your health.

Maybe you've been smoking all your life. And it's a tough addiction to kick. By the time you're in your later years, you might not even see the point in stopping. After all, isn't it just too late?

Don't give up just yet. Because it shows that it's never too late to reclaim good health by kicking the habit.

Researchers at UCLA found that for smokers, the risk for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in people over 65, continues to increase even after age 80. Smoking is actually the second most common risk factor for AMD.

The findings of the study, published this month in the American Journal of Ophthalmology, suggest that it really is never too late to stop smoking.

Up until this point, research on AMD has mostly been conducted on people younger than 75, even though age is the biggest factor for the disease. In this study, researchers followed a group of 1,958 women -- they examined retinal photographs taken at 5-year intervals.

What they found was that smokers over the age of 80 were actually 5.5 times more likely to develop AMD than women their age who didn't smoke.

Researchers found the combination of age and smoking to be compelling enough to conclude it's never too late to stop smoking -- you can lower your risk of AMD at any age.

Ready to kick the habit and looking for more ways to ward off AMD? Late last year, researchers at the US National Eye Institute found that omega-3s can slash the risk of both wet and dry AMD. The best sources of omega-3 fatty acids are fish such as cod, salmon, mackerel, and sardines; walnuts; flaxseed; and fish oils.

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