Fatty Diets Tied to Leading Cause of Vision Loss in Seniors

Health and Wellness Associates

 

Diets heavy in red meat and fatty foods could help spur a leading cause of vision loss in older Americans, new research suggests.

The study found that people who ate more typical Western diets were three times more likely to develop an eye condition that robs you of your central vision — late-stage age-related macular degeneration.

“What you eat seems to be important to your vision, and to whether or not you have vision loss later in life,” said study lead author Amy Millen. She’s an associate professor in the department of epidemiology and environmental health at the University at Buffalo’s School of Public Health and Health Professions, in Buffalo, N.Y.

“People know that diet influences cardiovascular risk and the risk of obesity, but the public may not know that diet can affect vision loss,” Millen said.

Age-related macular degeneration occurs when a part of the eye called the macula is damaged. Sometimes this happens when deposits called drusen grow on the macula. Or it can occur when new blood vessels keep forming and leak blood, scarring 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 did not have macular degeneration. There were 117 who had early AMD, and 27 had late.

All of the study participants completed surveys about their diets twice during the 18-year study.

The researchers sorted the foods into 29 categories to measure the quality of the diet.

They found that people who ate a more Western diet were much more likely to develop late-stage AMD. Foods linked to a higher risk included:

• Red and processed meats
• Fats, such as margarine and butter
• High-fat dairy
• Fried foods.

“Diet is one way you might be able to modify your risk of vision loss from age-related macular degeneration,” Millen said, especially if you have a family history of the disease.

She noted that since the study was observational, it couldn’t prove that eating healthy foods would reduce the risk of AMD, but she said it did show the foods you probably don’t want to eat often.

Dr. Avnish Deobhakta, an ophthalmologist at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai in New York City, wasn’t involved with the study, but said he wasn’t surprised by the findings.

“This study shows what we’ve suspected. A diet high in fatty foods, processed meats and refined grains makes the more severe form of macular degeneration more likely,” Deobhakta said.

Both Millen and Deobhakta said inflammation caused by a less healthy diet and stress on the cells in the eyes (oxidative stress) are likely behind the increased risk.

“The eyes are a sentinel for the rest of the body. In the tiny blood vessels of the eyes, even small changes that you would not otherwise notice in other organs, you will notice in the eyes,” Deobhakta said.

So can you make up for a lifetime of eating poorly? That’s not known. But both experts said that a healthy diet — full of vegetables (especially dark, leafy greens) and fruits and fatty fish — contains important nutrients for eye health, including lutein and zeaxanthin.

“It’s difficult to switch the way you eat overnight, but this is almost certainly a decades-long process, so try to slowly move toward more virtuous behavior with food. Try to supplement your current diet with more leafy vegetables and increase your consumption of fish,” Deobhakta said.

And both experts strongly advised no smoking.

The study was published in the December issue of the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

 

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6 Worst Foods for Diabetes

6 Worst Foods for Diabetes

Over 25 million people in the United States have diabetes and diabetes takes an enormous toll on the health of our population.¹ Diabetes accelerates aging; damages the kidneys, cardiovascular system, eyes and nerve tissue; and increases cancer risk.^2-4

The devastating complications and premature deaths associated with diabetes can be prevented. The primary cause of the parallel increases in obesity and diabetes is the nutrient-depleted American diet. The worst foods for diabetes—the foods that elevate blood sugar, reduce insulin sensitivity and increase type 2 diabetes risk—are the foods that are most common in the standard American diet.

1. Added sugars

Since diabetes is characterized by abnormally elevated blood glucose levels, of course it is wise to avoid the foods that cause dangerously high spikes in blood glucose—primarily refined foods such as sugar-sweetened beverages, devoid of fiber to slow the absorption of glucose into the blood. Fruit juices and sugary processed foods and desserts have similar effects. These foods promote hyperglycemia and insulin resistance, and promote the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in the body: AGEs alter the normal, healthy function of cellular proteins, stiffen the blood vessels, accelerate aging, and promote diabetes complications.^5,6

2. Refined grains (white rice and white flour products)

Refined carbohydrates like white rice, white pasta, and white bread are missing the fiber from the original grain, so they raise blood glucose higher and faster than their intact, unprocessed counterparts. In a 6-year study of 65,000 women, those with diets high in refined carbohydrates from white bread, white rice, and pasta were 2.5 times as likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes compared to those who ate lower-GL foods such as intact whole grains and whole wheat bread.⁷ An analysis of four prospective studies on white rice consumption and diabetes found that each daily serving of white rice increased the risk of diabetes by 11%.⁸ In addition to the glucose-raising effects, cooked starchy foods also contain AGEs, which promote aging and diabetes complications.^9,10

3. Fried foods

Potato chips, French fries, doughnuts and other fried starches start with a high-glycemic food, and then pile on a huge number of low-nutrient calories in the form of oil. The combination of glycemic carbs and oil is particularly potent at stimulating fat storage hormones. Plus, like other cooked starches, fried foods contain AGEs.^9,10

4. Trans fats (margarine, shortening, fast food, processed baked goods)

Diabetes accelerates cardiovascular disease; because the vast majority of diabetics (more than 80 percent¹) die from cardiovascular disease, any food that increases cardiovascular risk will be especially problematic for those with diabetes. Trans fat intake is a strong dietary risk factor for heart disease; even a small amount of trans fat intake increases risk.^11,12

In addition to their cardiovascular effects, saturated and trans fats reduce insulin sensitivity, leading to elevated glucose and insulin levels, and greater risk of diabetes.¹³

5. Red and processed meats

Many diabetics have come to believe that if sugar and refined grains and other high-glycemic foods raise blood sugar and triglycerides, they should avoid them and eat more animal protein to keep their blood glucose levels in check. However, several studies have now confirmed that high intake of meat increases the risk of diabetes. A meta-analysis of 12 studies concluded that high total meat intake increased type 2 diabetes risk 17% above low intake, high red meat intake increased risk 21%, and high processed meat intake increased risk 41%.¹⁴

6. Whole eggs

Eating 5 eggs/week or more has been associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.¹⁵ When it comes to heart disease, eggs have been a controversial topic. However, for those with diabetes, the research is not controversial; there are clear links in many observational studies to large increases in risk. Large prospective studies such as The Nurses’ Health Study, Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and Physicians’ Health Study reported that diabetics who ate more than one egg/day doubled their cardiovascular disease or death risk compared to diabetics who ate less than one egg per week.^16,17 Another study of diabetics reported that those who ate one egg/day or more had a 5-fold increase in risk of death from cardiovascular disease.^18,19

If you want to avoid diabetes and enhance your life expectancy, steer clear of these five foods and adopt a high-nutrient diet, which has been shown to reduce HbA1c into the non-diabetic range, reduce or eliminate the need for medications and dramatically improve blood pressure and triglycerides in diabetic patients.²⁰

References: 1. American Diabetes Association: Diabetes statistics [http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/diabetes-statistics/] 2. Campbell PT, Deka A, Jacobs EJ, et al: Prospective study reveals associations between colorectal cancer and type 2 diabetes mellitus or insulin use in men. Gastroenterology 2010, 139:1138-1146. 3. Flood A, Strayer L, Schairer C, et al: Diabetes and risk of incident colorectal cancer in a prospective cohort of women. Cancer Causes Control 2010, 21:1277-1284. 4. He J, Stram DO, Kolonel LN, et al: The association of diabetes with colorectal cancer risk: the Multiethnic Cohort. Br J Cancer 2010, 103:120-126. 5. Yamagishi S: Role of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and receptor for AGEs (RAGE) in vascular damage in diabetes. Exp Gerontol 2011, 46:217-224. 6. Barlovic DP, Thomas MC, Jandeleit-Dahm K: Cardiovascular disease: what’s all the AGE/RAGE about? Cardiovasc Hematol Disord Drug Targets 2010, 10:7-15. 7. Salmeron J, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ, et al: Dietary fiber, glycemic load, and risk of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in women. JAMA 1997, 277:472-477. 8. Hu EA, Pan A, Malik V, et al: White rice consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: meta-analysis and systematic review. BMJ 2012, 344:e1454. 9. Goldberg T, Cai W, Peppa M, et al: Advanced glycoxidation end products in commonly consumed foods. J Am Diet Assoc 2004, 104:1287-1291. 10. Pruser KN, Flynn NE: Acrylamide in health and disease. Front Biosci (Schol Ed) 2011, 3:41-51. 11. Teegala SM, Willett WC, Mozaffarian D: Consumption and health effects of trans fatty acids: a review. J AOAC Int 2009, 92:1250-1257. 12. Micha R, Mozaffarian D: Trans fatty acids: effects on metabolic syndrome, heart disease and diabetes. Nat Rev Endocrinol 2009, 5:335-344. 13. Riserus U, Willett WC, Hu FB: Dietary fats and prevention of type 2 diabetes. Prog Lipid Res 2009, 48:44-51. 14. Aune D, Ursin G, Veierod MB: Meat consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies. Diabetologia 2009, 52:2277-2287. 15. Djousse L, Gaziano JM, Buring JE, et al: Egg consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes in men and women. Diabetes Care 2009, 32:295-300. 16. Qureshi AI, Suri FK, Ahmed S, et al: Regular egg consumption does not increase the risk of stroke and cardiovascular diseases. Med Sci Monit 2007, 13:CR1-8. 17. Hu FB, Stampfer MJ, Rimm EB, et al: A prospective study of egg consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease in men and women. JAMA 1999, 281:1387-1394. 18. Trichopoulou A, Psaltopoulou T, Orfanos P, et al: Diet and physical activity in relation to overall mortality amongst adult diabetics in a general population cohort. J Intern Med 2006, 259:583-591. 19. Djousse L, Gaziano JM: Egg consumption in relation to cardiovascular disease and mortality: the Physicians’ Health Study. Am J Clin Nutr 2008, 87:964-969. 20. Dunaief DM, Fuhrman J, Dunaief JL, Ying G. Glycemic and cardiovascular parameters improved in type 2 diabetes with the high nutrient density (HND) diet. Open Journal of Preventive Medicine 2012, 2.

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