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Is Sugar Bad for Your Eyes?
This Week's Tips
Looks like there may be yet another reason to kick sugar and white flour out of your diet: eye health.
Cutting back on processed carbs could lower your risk of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness in people 60 and older.
The Carb Connection
What makes refined carbs so bad for your peepers? Seems their high glycemic index may be partly to blame. High-glycemic-index foods boost a whole bunch of bad things linked to AMD -- like increases in oxidative stress, inflammation, and blood-fat levels. (Get a simple breakdown on what high or low glycemic index means.)
See the Future
Along with replacing the "bad" carbs in your diet with high-fiber whole grains, try these other sight-saving steps:
- Make sure your diet includes these four super eye nutrients.
- Figure out if changes in your vision are normal. (This article can tell you what's normal when your eyes age -- and what's not.)
- See if it's time for a checkup. Answer the questions in this Disease Prevention Checklist.
RealAge Benefit:
Choosing whole grains rather than processed grains can make your RealAge 1.2 years younger if you are a man and 2.3 years younger if you are a woman.
Association between dietary glycemic index and age-related macular degeneration in nondiabetic participants in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study. Chiu, C. J., Milton, R. C., Gensler, G., Taylor, A., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2007 Jul;86(1):180-188.
