Dietary glycemic index and the risk of age-related macular degeneration

Abstract

Background: Dietary factors are known risk factors for age-related macular degeneration (AMD)-the leading cause of visual loss among persons aged ͧ65 y. High-glycemic-index diets have been hypothesized as a risk factor for AMD, but prospective data are unavailable. Objective: The objective was to examine the association between dietary glycemic index and the 10-y incidence of AMD in the Blue Mountain Eye Study population. Design: This was a population-based cohort study with 3654 participants (ͧ49 y) examined at baseline (1992)(1993)(1994); 2335 patients were reexamined after 5 y and 1952 after 10 y. The Wisconsin System was used to grade 10-y incident early and late AMD from retinal photographs. A food-frequency questionnaire was used to collect dietary information at baseline, and an Australian database was used to calculate the mean glycemic index. Results: Over 10 y, 208 of 1810 persons (cumulative incidence: 14.1%) developed early AMD. After age, smoking, other risk factors, and dietary constituents were adjusted for, a higher mean dietary glycemic index was associated with an increased 10-y risk of early AMD in a comparison of quartiles 1 and 4 [relative risk (RR): 1.77; 95% CI: 1.13, 2.78; P for trend ҃ 0.03]. Conversely, a greater consumption of cereal fiber (RR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.44, 1.04; P for trend ҃ 0.05) and breads and cereals (predominantly lower glycemic index foods such as oatmeal) (RR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.44, 1.02; P for trend ҃ 0.03) was associated with a reduced risk of incident early AMD. No relation was observed with late AMD. Conclusions: A high-glycemic-index diet is a risk factor for early AMD-the recognized precursor of sight-threatening late AMD. Low-glycemic-index foods such as oatmeal may protect against early AMD.

Involvement of a gut–retina axis in protection against dietary glycemia-induced age-related macular degeneration

“…Even synaptic pruning is affected by the switch to the LG diet. As such, the data support human epidemiologic observations that suggest that consuming lower GI diets is associated with delayed progress of early AMD (7)(8)(9). The higher levels of AGEs and autofluorescence in HG mice and their delayed or arrested accumulation in LG or HGxoLG mice indicate that the benefit of the LG diet is derived in part from lower glycative stress.…”

“…Stresses associated with AMD include environment, age, and genetics (3). Frustratingly, there are no early biomarkers to anticipate AMD, and there are no therapies or cure.Recently, we and others observed in epidemiologic studies that, in addition to micronutrients (4-6), macronutrient quality [e.g., consuming a diet with a high glycemic index (GI)] is a significant risk factor for AMD onset and/or progress in nondiabetic humans (7)(8)(9). The GI appears to be an attractive dietary intervention target, because simple replacement of small amounts of high-index foods (such as white bread) with lower-index foods (such as wholegrain bread) can significantly reduce glycemic peaks without requiring a change in overall dietary patterns (7).…”

Clinical study of the correlation between complement factor H polymorphism and age-related macular degeneration

“…Due to the limitation of experimental instruments, we did not statistically assess other risk factors, such as oxidant intake and sun exposure. In addition to these environmental influences, systemic diseases or changes in body indexes (such as elevated BMI and C-reactive protein levels) may also be risk factors for eye diseases (Kaushik et al, 2008;van de Ven et al, 2012).…”

Nutrition Support To Patients Undergoing Gastrointestinal Surgery

“…Recently, Ströhle & Hahn confirmed that the energy derived from CHOs -despite being dependent upon geographic latitude and ecological environment -in modern hunter-gatherers is markedly lower than in Westernized societies [10]. High CHO intake, in particular in the form of sugar and other high GI foods, has been linked to modern diseases like metabolic syndrome [11], Alzheimer's disease [12,13], cataract and macula degeneration [14][15][16] and gout [17]. Intriguingly, with the possible exception of Alzheimer's disease [18], the occurrence and prognosis of cancer seems positively associated with both the prevalence of these diseases [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] and the GI and glycemic load (GL) of the diet [29][30][31][32]; this implies a possible role of high CHO intake in cancer as well.…”