Weight Loss Diets Men - Fatty Diets Tied to Vision Loss in Seniors
Thursday, (Healthday News) - Heavy diets in red meat and fatty foods could help stimulate one of the main causes of vision loss in older Americans, new research suggests. The study discovered that people who ate more typical Western diets were three more likely to develop a condition of the eyes that steal their central vision - age-related macular vision at the end of the stage.
"What you eat seems to be important for your vision, and if you have or not the loss of vision later in life," said the primary author of Amy Millen study. She is an associate professor at the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health at the University of Buffalo Public Health School and Health Professions in Buffalo, NY
"People know that the diet influences cardiovascular risk and risk obesity, but the public may not know that the diet can affect the loss of vision, "Millen said.
Age-related macular degeneration occurs when a part of the eye called the macula is damaged. Sometimes this happens when the deposits called Drusen grow in the macula. Or it may occur when new blood vessels continue to form and leak blood, scars of the macula, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Genetics and smoking are known risk factors for age-related macular degeneration.
The study included almost 1,300 people from a nationally representative sample. Most had no macular degeneration. There were 117 who had early AMD, and 27 was late.
All study participants concluded research on their diets twice during the 18-year study.
Researchers rated foods in 29 categories to measure diet quality.
They found that people who ate a more western diet were much more likely to develop a final stage. Foods linked to a larger risk included:
- Red and processed meats
- Fats such as margarine and butter
- High fat milk
- Fried Foods.
"Diet is a way to modify the risk of vision loss of age-related macular degeneration," Millen said especially if you have a family history of the disease.
She noted that since the study was observational, she could not prove that eating healthy foods would reduce AMD's risk, but she said she showed the foods that you probably do not want to eat frequently.
DR. Deobhakta, an ophthalmologist at the New York ophthalmologist and Mount Sinai's infirmary in New York, was not involved with the study, but said he was not surprised at the findings.
"This study shows what we suspect. A high diet in fatty foods, processed meats and refined grains makes the most serious form of macular degeneration more likely," said Deobhakta.
Both Millen and Deobhakta said that inflammation caused by a less healthy diet and stress in cells in the eyes (oxidative stress) are likely behind the increase in risk.
"The eyes are a sentry for the rest of the body. In the tiny blood vessels of the eyes, even small changes that you would not notice otherwise in other organs, you will notice in the eyes" Deobhakta said.
Can you compensate for a life of eating evil? This is not known. But both experts said a healthy diet - full of vegetables (especially dark, greasy greaves) and greasy fruits and fish - contains important nutrients for eye health, including lutein and zeaxanthine.
"It's hard to change the way you eat overnight, but that's almost certainly a process of decades, so try to move slowly towards more virtuous behavior with food. Try to complete your current diet with plus leafy vegetables and increase your fish consumption, "Deobhakta said.
and both experts strongly advised not smoking.
The study was published in the December issue of the British Ophthalmology newspaper.
