Dietary Patterns, Carbohydrates, and Age-Related Eye Diseases

Abstract

Over a third of older adults in the U.S. experience significant vision loss, which decreases independence and is a biomarker of decreased health span. As the global aging population is expanding, it is imperative to uncover strategies to increase health span and reduce the economic burden of this age-related disease. While there are some treatments available for age-related vision loss, such as surgical removal of cataracts, many causes of vision loss, such as dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), remain poorly understood and no treatments are currently available. Therefore, it is necessary to better understand the factors that contribute to disease progression for age-related vision loss and to uncover methods for disease prevention. One such factor is the effect of diet on ocular diseases. There are many reviews regarding micronutrients and their effect on eye health. Here, we discuss the impact of dietary patterns on the incidence and progression of age-related eye diseases, namely AMD, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. Then, we focus on the specific role of dietary carbohydrates, first by outlining the physiological effects of carbohydrates on the body and then how these changes translate into eye and age-related ocular diseases. Finally, we discuss future directions of nutrition research as it relates to aging and vision loss, with a discussion of caloric restriction, intermittent fasting, drug interventions, and emerging randomized clinical trials. This is a rich field with the capacity to improve life quality for millions of people so they may live with clear vision for longer and avoid the high cost of vision-saving surgeries.

The Glyoxalase System in Age-Related Diseases: Nutritional Intervention as Anti-Ageing Strategy

“…All published epidemiologic studies indicate that people who consume lower glycemic index diets are protected against AMD, and even against the progression of AMD [132,133]. Consistent with these data, the more one subscribes to a Mediterranean, lower glycemic index diet, the better the protection against early or late AMD [134].…”

Prevalence of Age-Related Macular Degenerative Disorder Due to Poor Dietary Habits

“…About 196 million are getting affected by it all over the world. It can be controlled with the healthy alteration in diet and lifestyle [28,29].…”

“…Processing vegetables beyond a certain limit results in the destruction of the essential vitamins in them, which will have made it much better to consume the leafy vegetables in raw form. Eating food having high level of sugar like sweets over a certain limit is bad for health similarly consuming food rich in fats and oils adds into the category of unhealthy diet [28]. Poor dietary habits, like consumption of a lot of energy bars, drinks, junk food and fried food, lead to high prevalence of Age-related macular disorders.…”

“…Therefore, the frequency of AMD is directly proportional to the poor or unhealthy diet. It has been proved through studies that intake of carotenoids mainly lutein and zeaxanthin, vitamin A & C and minerals like Cu, Zn through the intake of fruits, vegetables and meat of fish [28,30].…”

Searching for the Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, and Neuroprotective Potential of Natural Food and Nutritional Supplements for Ocular Health in the Mediterranean Population

“…Natural food and its derivatives play essential roles in health and wellbeing, and it has been characteristically associated with defense mechanisms against microbial agents, xenobiotics and/or physical factors, also demonstrating an immense range of health-promoting perspectives for achieving a pleasant lifespan [33,34]. Large population studies on the role of nutrition in eye health have reported controversial results over decades, mainly regarding cataracts, AMD, RD, OSD/DED, and glaucoma, and also slowing progression of the above sight-threatening diseases, by dietary interventions has also been discussed [6,8,[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54].…”