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Age-related Macular Degeneration Information
Introduction
There are many conditions in Western industrialised societies today that were unheard of, or at least very rare, just a century ago. The same conditions are still unheard of in primitive peoples who do not have the 'benefits' of our knowledge. There is a very good reason for this: They eat what Nature intended; we don't. The diseases caused by our incorrect and unnatural diets are those featured on these pages.
Age-related Macular degeneration
Dietary causes of macular degeneration :
polyunsaturated vegetable margarines and cooking oils.Introduction
There is an eye condition spreading rapidly throughout Western society like an epidemic — a blindness called age-related macular degeneration or AMD. Affecting millions, age-related macular degeneration is the second leading cause of blindness in humans.
The macula is the area located at the centre of the retina is responsible for detailed, fine central vision. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) involves a number of degenerative changes in the macular region and is leading cause of blindness particularly in people with diabetes.[1] And there is no really effective conventional treatment for this condition. It is widely believed that it is because of the increasing size of the elderly population in Western countries, the numbers of cases of age-related macular degeneration continues to grow. But this may not be so.
Polyunsaturated vegetable oils
It has been suggested that AMD is caused by atherosclerosis in the blood vessels that supply the retina, in a similar way to the mechanism underlying coronary heart disease (CHD).[2] According to this hypothesis, dietary fat components related to CHD may also be related to AMD. As you know, dietary saturated fat, cholesterol, and trans unsaturated fats are believed to increase the risk of CHD, and polyunsaturated fats, to reduce that risk. Thus, these specific types of fat were thought to have similar associations with AMD.
Well, it seems to be true that the balance of fats and oils in your diet can affect your vision — but not in the way that was expected. Researchers at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary carried out a study of 349 individuals aged 55 to 80 with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and compared their diet to a control group with eye diseases other than AMD.[3] Those who consumed foods high in 'healthy' vegetable fat had more than twice the risk of AMD of those whose intakes were low. And the other 'healthy' monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil, also carried a 71% higher risk of AMD. But diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish like tuna and salmon, were protective against AMD.
This was confirmed in the same year by a much larger study at Harvard Medical School.[4] They too determined that linoleic acid, the principle omega-6 fatty acid in most vegetable oils, as well as oils containing monounsaturated fatty acids increased the risk of AMD. As antioxidant vitamins have been shown to reduce the risk of AMD,[5] this too adds to the weight of evidence against 'healthy' fats, as these are the only oils to oxidise readily.
The major reason for blindness in Australia 30 years ago was the retinopathy which accompanies diabetes and it was rare to find macular degeneration. Today AMD has overtaken diabetes 5-fold and is now the leading cause of loss of vision in Australia. Two-thirds of those who lose their vision are blind due to age-related macular degeneration. It's not surprising as Australians use vegetable oils probably more than any other nation.
Dr Paul Beaumont from the Australian macular degeneration foundation is horrified at the rate macular degeneration has multiplied. 'I've seen an exponential rise from the early 1970s through to the 1990s,' Dr Beaumont said in an interview on Australian Channel Seven, broadcast on 5 July 2004.[6] 'If we look at Japan forty years ago the disease was rare, now it's common.' And he has seen a 10-fold increase in age-related macular degeneration in Australia in the last 30 years. 'I don't think there's any doubt we have an epidemic.'
Dr Beaumont studied particularly the link with polyunsaturated fats. '[The research] showed that people eating vegetable oil got the disease twice as commonly as the people who didn't', he said.
'Even more convincing was a prospective study where they looked at patients with the disease and those eating too much vegetable oil progressed at 3.8-times the rate of those eating a little vegetable oil.
'You look at bread, they make it on margarine; you look at currants and they've gone and sprayed vegetable oil on them to stop them from sticking; you go and try and get tinned fish and they've put it in vegetable oil.
'So yes, it's become ubiquitous, it's crept right into our food chain and you hardly know you're eating it.'
Dr Beaumont says there should be a consumer health warning on the packages similar to a warning of a cigarette package: 'Vegetable oil can lead to macular degeneration'. 'I think we could halve the number of people going blind with macular degeneration if we could change their diet, cut out the vegetable oil.'
The answer
The message is clear that if you want to look after your eyes and prevent the blindness due to age-related macular degeneration, cut down on processed foods high in vegetable fats, but eat more fish.
If you don't care much for eating oily fish, there is another answer: eat more eggs! Over the last couple of decades we have been told to cut down on eggs. That could be a mistake. Studies are showing that restricting eggs from the diet can have harmful effects. Eggs are a source of biologically available lutein and zeaxanthin which accumulate in the eye lens and macular region of the retina help protect against AMD.[7] [8] Lutein and zeaxanthin concentrations in the macula are greater than those found in the blood and other tissues. Eggs as well as spinach and broccoli are particularly rich in these two compounds.[9]
Excitotoxins
And there are other factors in modern foods, particularly the pre-prepared foods, which increase the risk of AMD. Studies in rats have shown that common food additives such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), and aspartame (Nutra-Sweet®) which many people eat because they've been told to cut down on sugar, and which are added to many processed foods, can wreak havoc. Aspartame, for example, breaks down into eye-destroying formaldehyde and methyl alcohol.[10] [11] [12] It doesn't help that aspartame is addictive.[13]
References
[1]. Lucidi EA. Cataracts, macular degeneration, blindness — Focus of eye research. J Longev 1998; 4: 24-26.
[2]. Vingerling JR, et al. Age-related macular degeneration is associated with atherosclerosis. Am J Epidemiology 1995; 142; 4: 404-409.
[3]. Seddon JM, Rosner B, Robert Sperduto RD, et al. et al. Dietary fat and risk for advanced age-related macular degeneration. Arch Ophthalmol 2001; 119: 1191-9
[4]. Cho E, et al. Prospective study of dietary fat and the risk of age-related macular degeneration. Am J Clin Nutr 2001; 73: 209-218.
[5]. Seddon JM, et al. Dietary carotenoids, vitamins A, C, and E, and advanced age-related macular degeneration. JAMA 1994; 272: 1413–20.
[6]. http://seven.com.au/todaytonight/story/macular
[7]. Gale CR, et al. Lutein and zeaxanthin status and risk of age-related macular degeneration. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2003; 44: 2461-5.
[8]. Granado F, et al. Nutritional and clinical relevance of lutein in human health. Br J Nutr 2003; 90: 487-502.
[9]. Moeller SM, et al. The potential role of dietary xanthophylls in cataract and age-related macular degeneration. J Am Coll Nutr 2000; 19 (5 Suppl): 522S-527S.
[10]. Schwartz G. In Bad Taste: The MSG Syndrome. Health Press, Albuquerque, NM: 1988.
[11]. Blaylock Russell L. Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills. Health Press, Albuquerque, NM: 1995.
[12]. Lee, Lita. Radiation Protection Manual, 3rd edition 1990.
[13]. Roberts HJ. Aspartame (NutraSweet®) addiction. Townsend Ltr Doc & Patients 2000; Jan: 52-57.
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