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Health & Medicine
 New Finding Links Diet and Age-Related Macular
Degeneration
By
Rosalie Marion Bliss
April 27, 2006 - Scientists funded by the
Agricultural Research Service reported this month that consuming a "high glycemic-index" diet over a long period of time is associated with a higher risk of developing the
early stages of a major eye disease that is the leading cause of
blindness in senior citizens - age-related macular degeneration,
or AMD.
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The study was led by Chung-Jung Chiu and Allen
Taylor at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging
in Boston, Mass., and is part of the Nutrition and Vision Project, a
substudy of the federally funded Nurses' Health Study.
A high glycemic-index diet is a diet high in the
type of carbohydrates that are quickly digested and absorbed, resulting
in a rapid rise in blood glucose levels. The macula is a yellow
pigmented spot, one-eighth-inch wide, in the center of the retina toward
the back of the eye. AMD is one of the leading causes of irreversible
vision loss among those aged 40 or older in the United States.
Study participants were 526 women aged 53 to 73
years who did not have a history of age-related maculopathy, the early
form of AMD. The scientists assessed the participants for macular
disease and classified the results. They then compared the results with
long-term dietary information that had been collected using
questionnaires over a 10-year period prior to the macular disease
assessment.
When ranked into three groups from highest to
lowest in terms of dietary glycemic index, the participants who were
ranked highest were well over two times more likely to have macular
pigment abnormalities as those ranked lowest.
An abnormal level of macular pigment is an early
indicator of macular degeneration. The macula is responsible for the
maximum ability to receive light and distinguish images.
Although the data do not establish a causal
relationship, they do indicate a new direction for further studies that
may help prevent or delay the onset of macular disease.
The study was published in the April issue of the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
ARS is the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's
chief scientific research agency.
Image courtesy
National Eye Institute,
National Institutes of Health.
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