Dr. Mercola December 15 2007 48,600 views
Carbohydrates that cause blood sugar levels to spike and fall rapidly could be a risk factor for central vision loss with aging. Central vision loss is one of the first signs of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness among the elderly.
Diets high in carbohydrates that are quickly digested and absorbed, such as white bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, sugars and corn syrups are also suspected of being involved in the vision loss that sometimes accompanies diabetes.
The type of damage to eye tissue produced by these “fast” carbs could be similar in both AMD and diabetic eye disease.
Losing your eyesight is a common concern as you age. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of irreversible blindness among the elderly, with an estimated 13 million Americans, age 65 and over, suffering from the disorder. Conventional medicine has been unable to find any kind of treatment for its most common variety (dry AMD).
But first, let’s be clear that aging does not automatically equate to diminished eyesight, as there are plenty of people in their 80s and beyond who still have good vision. However, as you age, changes can indeed occur that may weaken your ability to see.
What is Macular Degeneration?
Your retina is about the size of a postage stamp and your macula only about the size of a pencil tip.
Located in the macula – in the center of your retina -- are your cone cells, which produce color vision, and are used for reading and fine central vision. Your rod cells, which are in the periphery of your retina, are used for night vision and side vision.
When your cones begin to degenerate, the result is macular degeneration and loss of your central vision. As AMD progresses, tiny, fragile blood vessels begin to develop in the retina. These vessels often leak blood and fluid that damages the retina even further.
What are the Warning Signs of Macular Degeneration?
Some of the warning signs of AMD include:
You can also check your vision regularly using the Amsler Grid.
The Two Types of Macular Degeneration
Macular degeneration is classified as either wet (neovascular), or dry (non-neovascular). Dry AMD accounts for about 90 percent of all AMD cases.
In wet macular degeneration new vessels form to improve your blood supply to oxygen-deprived retinal tissue. But these new vessels are very delicate and break easily, causing bleeding and damage to surrounding tissue.
Wet AMD is not considered as serious as the dry version, and there are a couple of conventional treatment methods available if you suffer from wet AMD, including laser photocoagulation and photodynamic therapy. Laser photocoagulation can seal off leaking or bleeding vessels, hence preventing further vision loss; however it does not restore lost vision.
Photodynamic therapy is a more recent treatment, which can stop abnormal blood vessel growth in some cases of wet AMD, and it’s far less damaging than laser photocoagulation. However, your best bet, and your least dangerous alternative, is to practice prevention -- or vision maintenance if you’re already in the beginning stages of AMD -- through appropriate nutrition.
How to Prevent Macular Degeneration, or Reduce Further Vision Loss
This is not the first study to hail the benefits of nutrition to prevent and treat macular degeneration. For example, Dr. Stuart Richer, OD, PhD, at the North Chicago Veterans Medical Center, painstakingly documented that macular degeneration can be reversed with nutritional supplements and dietary changes.
Following my dietary recommendations, based on your nutritional type, is one of your best ways to help prevent this cause of blindness, and will automatically limit or eliminate your intake of grains and sugars.
Lutein (LOO-teen) is a cartenoids found in vegetables and fruits. Lutein is just as important to health, or more so, than beta-carotene. It acts as an antioxidant, protecting cells against the damaging effects of free radicals.
It has been found that people who eat large amounts of fruits and vegetables have a 43 percent risk reduction of age-related macular degeneration. Fortunately, lutein is easy to add to your diet if you eat plenty of spinach and other green, leafy vegetables, as well as raw egg yolks.
It is important to note that lutein is an oil-soluble nutrient, and if you merely consume the vegetables without some oil (like olive oil) or butter, your body can't absorb the lutein.
In addition to optimizing your lutein intake by eating plenty of leafy greens, these simple strategies can also help protect you from onset, or worsening vision loss:
1. Wear UV-blue blocking sunglasses when outdoors in daylight, we require exposure to all wavelengths of sunshine to remain healthy. 2. Eat sulfur-rich foods, such as garlic, eggs, asparagus, and onions 3. Eat natural food products, like blueberries, that are high in phytochemical antioxidants 4. A daily food supplement regimen that includes: Omega-3 krill oil or fish oil providing 1000 mg of DHA lutein (6-12 mg) vitamin E (200-400 IU) selenium (organic, nor selenate or selenite) 200 mcg vitamin B12, 300 mcg magnesium 400 mg vitamin C 500-2000 mg bilberry 120-240 mg sulfur-bearing nutrients (glutathione, lipoic acid, N-acetyl cysteine or taurine) 5. Avoid high-dose calcium supplements without balancing magnesium 6. Avoid these fats, which are in most processed, store-bought foods and fried foods: trans fats / hydrogenated fats (vegetable oil) that interfere with the omega-3 fats monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats 7. Avoid very low-fat diets, which robs the retina of omega-3 fats
1. Wear UV-blue blocking sunglasses when outdoors in daylight, we require exposure to all wavelengths of sunshine to remain healthy.
2. Eat sulfur-rich foods, such as garlic, eggs, asparagus, and onions
3. Eat natural food products, like blueberries, that are high in phytochemical antioxidants
4. A daily food supplement regimen that includes:
5. Avoid high-dose calcium supplements without balancing magnesium
6. Avoid these fats, which are in most processed, store-bought foods and fried foods:
7. Avoid very low-fat diets, which robs the retina of omega-3 fats
A soda a day takes your eye sight away.
AND... studies prove, results in bone fractures at a greatly higher rate, even in teens.
MY grandpa was born in 1910, grew up eating white potatoes at nearly every meal, breads, biscuits, coffee, and whatever else his parents of small means could afford to feed him and his siblings. He came up through the depression when times were hard and money for good food was scarce. Druing the WWII years he went without a lot of protien as food was rationed. He always ate eggs, bacon, toast, real butter and coffee with real cream and sugar for breakfast five to six days a week. Occasionally he would eat a bowl of Wheaties or corn flakes on Saturday. He had sausage and buckwheat pancakes on Sunday. For lunch he took a sandwich of boiled ham on whote bread with real butter spread on both slices of bread as a condiment. Coffee went with him in a thermos. He and my grandma grew fruits and a garden, which all foods were then canned. He also ate his share of sweets everyday in his lunch and everynight after dinner. He did eat in moderation; never ate large meals. He lived to be 91 (died in 2001) and had VERY good health all of his life. He never had high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, or bad bones. I'd say genetics played a large role in this, but I also think the key here is moderation. He never , never ate like he was starving. He always ate one plate and was done.
He was found to have a stomach aenurysm at age 85. When they tested him for age-related stress (to see if he could have surgery), he was as fit as someone aged 65! He always stayed active, worked, gardened, ate plenty of chocolate and ice cream, and smoked cigarettes and cigars.
I am certainly not advocating we all smoke, eat lots of sugary foods or breads, but what I am saying is that all things in moderation can be better than abstaining from everything one enjoys.
Lori
Hi LoriSm...
There are differences in the wheat and white bread that your grandfather ate as he grew up as compared to those that are produced today. One difference would be that fewer chemicals were used in growing those grains. Another would be that the soil had more mineral content and living organism content to "feed" the grain as it grew. Further, the grains that were grown early in the 20th century were not hybrid (a practice that has further reduced the nutritional content of the food.)
The Milk and cream that your grandfather most likely would have consumed back in those days would have been RAW, so much more nutritious than today's pasteurized, homogenized milk and dairy products. Even the sausage was probably made from healthy animals and probably did not contain nitrates or nitrites.
As for gardening, good for them. They surely would have eaten the produce fresh in season, and put up for the winter what was left.
There are also studies showing that consuming just enough to get by, as many people did during the depression, can actually improve health and add to longevity (of course there were many who suffered from malnutrition which is damaging to health).
We have numerous obstacles to good nutrition today that our grandparents did not have until late in life. If we want a good foundation for our later years, if we are granted to see them, it is prudent to consider what passes your lips.
AuntyPaula,
Of course you are right as I know the soil was better and that he ate much of his own foods grown on his land. I do know he drank pastuerized milk products (the Borden truck came twice a week..)
I do think that moderation is the key to health as one ages. My grandpa was one healthy man!!!
When he was 54 years old, he stopped by his then 15 year old son's school (I don't remember why) and the son was in gym class. The boys were supposed to climb a rope that reached up to the cieling. Most of the kids in the class couldn't do this. My grandpa climbed that rope up and down lickety-split. He was an electrician by trade, but climbing ladders was his usual, not ropes. He was just a strong, small man (5'10", about 150 pounds). He was never a heavy man, even in his 80's, though he was up close to 170 at one time.
Anyway, I think staying active, eating moderately, avoiding processed foods, this all helps.
Thanks for the reply!
It's funny, I posted almost the same thing on another thread a few weeks ago about my grandparents! They are now 98 and 99, still are sharp as tacks and take care of themselves in an "independant living" place. Grandma cooks her own meals and grandpa does his own bills and they both walk and play bingo, etc. No one believes they are a day over 70.
Their diets were (in my opinon) horrible...pasta with every meal, sausages, lots of fried everything, coffee pot on from morning till night, coffee and cake after lunch and dinner everyday, bowl of ice cream every night before bed, lots of wine and mixed drinks whenever "company" came, etc.. They also stayed up to watch the 11 pm news every night and would be up to all hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights playing gin rummy and smoking and drinking with their friends. Honestly, if I ate and lived like them I would be dead within the week!!!!
They think I am insane because I eat healthy, don't smoke, drink only occasionally (and that is maybe one glass of wine or a beer in the summer) and go to bed by ten most nights. Their opinion is "who wants to live like that!!??" Grandma always yells at me to "live a little" which means do as they did. I have no idea how they are in the shape they are in (excellent shape that is) with the lifestyle they have lived for almost 100 years.
Aren't whole grains, unprocessed good for you? How can you just wipe them out of your diet. Aren't they important. Like barley, brown rice, etc.