Protect yourself against Age Related Macular Degeneration

Spinach, the vegetable so detested by boys, is on the comeback trail. The reason is simple: it seems that two antioxidants found in spinach and other less-than-popular veg like cabbage may protect us against the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is a leading cause of visual impairment and blindness in adults over 50.

Before you decide that you're indestructible and 50 is way too old even to contemplate, remember that what you eat and do to your body now will pay dividends later - or come back to haunt you.

So What is Age Related Macular Degeneration?

The macula is the yellow spot on the retina at the back of your eye responsible for generating signals that turn light into finely detailed color images in your brain. You use it for watching sports on TV, reading magazines and driving your supercharged, turbo-boosted sports car.

Many pathological changes in the macula are a result of oxidative damage caused by exposure to light and UV radiation. Oxidants are tiny destructive particles, known as free radicals, which accumulate to cause all sorts of diseases and signs of early ageing, including damage to your eye. When your macula is damaged, you're left with a blind spot in your central vision and must rely on peripheral vision only. That's not much fun because you have to look at everything out of the corner of your eye rather than full-on frontal.

There are two types of AMD. The more benign dry type, which accounts for about 90 percent of all AMD, is characterized by the formation of yellow deposits called ‘drusen’. It affects the central 10 percent of your vision but you'll retain your peripheral vision. The more aggressive wet type is so-called because you develop unwanted, dysfunctional blood vessels, the bleeding of which can cause rapid blindness.

Leave it too late and what's already broken can't be fixed

So what's spinach got to do with all this? Lutein and zeaxanthin - the magic antioxidants found in spinach - are the main constituents of the retina's macular pigment, a pigment thought to protect you against retinal damage by filtering out phototoxic short-wavelength and defending against oxidation. Trials have shown that high levels of antioxidants, including vitamin C, beta-carotene, vitamin E and zinc, slow the conversion of the dry form to the more aggressive wet form.

What causes Age Related Macular Degeneration?

No one really knows exactly, but genetic factors play a role, and there's not much you can do about that. Environmental risk factors are important too: smoking and lots of exposure to sunlight seem to increase your chances. Best thing to do? Toss the cigarettes in the bin (permanently), invest in a sunhat and a really good pair of sunglasses and don't venture onto the beach or sports field without them. Can Age Related Macular Degeneration be cured? No, so prevention is the key.

Your ophthalmologist may recommend laser treatment to the back of your eye to prevent further deterioration, but it can't fix damage already done. A more recent development is an Avastin injection straight into your eyeball. It sounds gross but apparently isn't painful. If you have this early enough in the progression of the disease, it can shrink newly bleeding vessels and block the formation of new blood vessels near the macula, preventing further damage.

Leave it too late, however, and what's already broke can't be fixed. It's not like having a cataract, for instance, where the doc simply whips out the damaged lens from your eye and replaces it with a shiny new one. In severe cases of AMD, although there's some peripheral vision, you're clinically blind - can't read, can't recognize faces, can't play sport, can't drive a car. And once that's happened, there's no going back; no saying, Gimme spinach, I'll eat mountains of it. It's over.

How common is it?

Age-related macular degeneration is one of the leading causes of blindness in the USA. According to AMD Alliance International, 25 to 30 million people are affected globally and numbers are expected to triple over the next 25 years.

Eat Well Now, See Well Later

What you eat now can play a vital role in reducing your risk of AMD later. Studies show that guys who eat lots of fruit and vegetables have a lower risk than those who eat them less than once a week. The ideal to aim for is five portions of fruit or veg a day.
The magic ingredients appear to be two carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, which have a high antioxidant capacity. They're part of a family of compounds that give color to fruit and vegetables. Although beta-carotene is probably the most well known, we absorb more than a dozen others from our food

Lutein and zeaxanthin are found in all fruits and vegetables but in the highest concentration in dark-green leafy vegetables like spinach, and other colorful fruit and veg like corn, Brussel sprouts and peppers. Get a lutein fix from savoy cabbage, watercress and spinach and pump up your zeaxanthin levels with oranges, orange juice, corn and orange peppers. Carotenoids, including lutein and zeaxanthin, like a bit of heat as well as a bit of fat in order to optimize their bioavailability. In other words, they're better absorbed and used by the body if they're cooked and consumed with a small amount of vegetable oil.

Science buffs may be interested to know that eating lots of dark-green leafy vegetables increases the density of the macular pigment and that high levels of macular pigment are thought to protect against AMD by absorbing damaging blue light and minimizing photo oxidization.

In addition, the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin protect against oxidative damage arising from free radicals - not a bad idea since the retina produces among the most free radicals in the whole body.

American studies show that people who consume high amounts of carotenoids have a 43 percent lower risk of AMD than those who consume low amounts. High beta-carotene consumption reduces your risk by 41 percent and high lutein and zeaxanthin consumption lowers your risk by as much as 57 percent. A study looking specifically at spinach consumption showed a whopping 86 percent lower risk of AMD in the highest-consumption group compared to the lowest-consumption group. A study published earlier this year also indicates that lutein and zeaxanthin significantly reduce the harmful effects of glare.
 
Why wait till your forty-ninth birthday to start making sure you'll still be able to recognize your mates, watch TV and drive yourself around in that fancy new car you can finally afford after dreaming about it for so long? Right now is the time to make lifestyle changes that will pay dividends later.

Regardless of your age, give your eyes the nutrition they need to stay healthy. Hey, you're willing to spend hours doing crunches and working the machines at the gym; how hard can it be to get some sun protection and eat a few more veggies?