Low glycemic diets helpful in preventing age related eye disease

Want to save yourself from age related eye disease? Well go for low glycemic foods like starch found in whole grains, legumes, chickpeas, leafy greens. These foods may be helpful in preventing age related eye disease that leads to vision loss.

For the early stages it is blurred vision due to age related macular degeneration (AMD). But in the advanced stages, life can be very challenging.

Diets with high glycemic levels like potatoes, white rice, and white bread, release sugar into blood stream more speedily than low glycemic diets increasing the risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and also AMD.

Many AMD features may also be developed such as loss of function of cells at the back of the eye called retinal pigmented epithelial atrophy (RPE) of photoreceptors, which are the precursors to dry AMD, according to researchers.

"Our experimental results suggest that switching from a high glycemic diet to a low glycemic one is beneficial to eye health in people that are heading towards developing AMD," said lead author Sheldon Rowan, scientist at the Tufts University.

With the help of an aged mouse model, the researchers randomized 59 mice into 2 groups: 19 low glycemic fed mice and 40 high glycemic fed mice. The only difference in the diets was carbohydrate source.

"Our findings show an interaction between dietary carbohydrates, the gut microbiome, specific biochemical molecules, and AMD features," Rowan added.

According to estimates by the National Eye Institute, the number of people with AMD will double from 2.07 million to 5.44 million by 2050. The disease is typically diagnosed only when vision loss has already begun. Unfortunately, it can’t be cured.