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Topics: Health, Food and Drink
Emily Brown
Health experts have warned of five types of food that can impact your eye health and might even contribute to a loss in vision.
Having a healthy and balanced diet can impact every part of our body, but typically we associate what we eat with our weight and fitness, rather than our eyesight.
However, medics have encouraged people not to ignore the impact that diet can have when it comes to our vision.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an eye disease that can blur your central vision, and is leading cause of vision loss for older adults, according to the National Eye Institute. It happens when aging causes damage to the macula - which controls straight-ahead vision - but studies have indicated that diet can also have an impact.
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It might make for a delicious sandwich that many of us opt for every day, but the National Institutes of Health has pointed to studies which found that carbohydrates with a high glycemic load, such as white bread, are associated with AMD onset and progress.
In a 2017 study, researchers fed groups of mice either a low glycemic diet or a high glycemic diet. When the mice reached old age, the researchers found that those fed a high glycemic diet developed signs of retinal damage.
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However, they found that if the mice were switched from a high to low glycemic diet, the build-up of harmful metabolic factors in eye tissue were delayed or even reversed, as were signs of AMD.
Another firm favorite, french fries unfortunately also fall into the high glycemic category that has been found to be linked to AMD. The National Institutes of Health has explained that foods with a high glycemic load can be quickly digested and so cause spikes in blood sugar. Repeated spikes can harm retinal blood vessels, which in turn can heighten the risk of AMD.
That's right, your healthy snack alternative might not be as healthy as you might think. Similarly to fries and white bread, rice cakes possess a high glycemic index which can cause rapid spikes in blood sugar levels.
If you were eyeing up a cheese sandwich on white bread for lunch, I can only apologize.
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Slices like those you might slap on your burger or sandwich might be tasty - if a bit rubbery - but they can often contain high levels of sodium.
Excessive sodium has been linked to high blood pressure, which can in turn affect the blood vessels in the retina in a condition called hypertensive retinopathy.
Delicious it might be, but healthy it is not. According to Medical News Today, foods that are high cholesterol have been linked to AMD, as cholesterol blocks the blood supply to the eye and affects central vision. Bacon, red meat and sausages have all been flagged as foods that are high in cholesterol due to their levels of saturated fat.
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There are two different types of AMD - the more common 'dry AMD', also known as atrophic AMD, and 'wet AMD', aka advanced neovascular AMD.
In late AMD, either wet or dry, people may notice straight lines start to look wavy or crooked, and there may be a blurry area near the center of your vision which gets bigger over time.
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Colors may also seem more dim than they have previously, and you may have more trouble seeing in low lighting.
There’s currently no treatment for early AMD, but special dietary supplements can be offered to people with intermediate AMD. To help avoid the development of AMD, doctors recommend getting regular physical activity, maintaining healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and eating healthy foods, including leafy green vegetables and fish.