How Mediterranean diet can slash risk of blindness by 26%

A Mediterranean diet can fight Britain's leading cause of blindness

EATING a Mediterranean-style diet could cut the risk of blindness in old age by a quarter.

 

Fish, vegetables, fruit, olive oil and nuts have a powerful effect on Britain’s leading cause of sight loss.

Scientists who made the discovery say their findings show diet is of the “utmost importance” in the fight against age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Adults who regularly ate Mediterranean-type foods were 26 per cent less likely to lose their sight.

And among those carrying a gene which puts them at higher risk of AMD, the danger was cut by a third. The findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, come at a time when some experts fear a steep rise in the numbers of elderly Britons affected by AMD. About 600,000 people are thought to have suffered some AMD sight loss.

 



A huge majority of blindness cases in the UK involve AMD



This figure is expected to increase significantly in the next few years as people live longer. Cathy Yelf, chief executive of British charity the Macular Society, said: “AMD is now the biggest cause of sight loss in the industrialised world.”

It usually develops after the age of 50. It is caused by the growth of blood vessels over the macula, a small oval-shaped area at the back of the eye that helps us pick out visual details clearly.

These blood vessels leak fluid, causing scar tissue and destroying vision in the eye’s centre, making it difficult to recognise faces, read or watch TV.

 



Fish is one of the foods that can help



About 90 per cent of cases involve dry AMD, a form of the disease that comes on slowly over several years. The rest involve wet AMD, which can cause blindness in as little as three months. Treatment involves monthly injections into the back of the eye of drugs designed to curb the growth of abnormal blood vessels.

Eating a mixed healthy diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables is important for general and eye health

The Royal National Institute for the Blind

 

Given early enough, they can help to prevent complete loss of vision. They slow down progression of the disease in about 90 per cent of patients and can increase vision in about a third. But scientists are looking for ways to prevent the condition in the first place.

US experts from Harvard Medical School and Tufts University in Boston quizzed 2,500 volunteer men and women on their eating habits. Each was then tracked for 13 years.

Regular consumption of oily fish and vegetables seemed to give most of the protection. One antioxidant thought to protect eyes is lutein, found in abundance in foods such as kale. A Mediterranean diet is thought to protect the eyes by reducing the risk of inflammation.

The Royal National Institute for the Blind said: “Eating a mixed healthy diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables is important for general and eye health, as is wearing quality sunglasses.” It also urged people not to smoke.

 

Olive oil is also beneficial