A low-glycemic diet may prevent age-related eye disease

Eating low-glycemic foods such as starches found in whole grains, legumes, lentils, chickpeas, vegetables, leafy greens, may help prevent the development of age-related eye disease that causes vision loss.

In early stages, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) results in blurred vision. However, in advanced stages, it can make life very challenging.

High-glycemic diets — like potatoes, white rice, and white bread — release sugar into the blood stream more rapidly than low-glycemic diets and thus increase the risk for Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, as well as AMD.

It also results in the development of many AMD features, such as loss of function of cells at the back of the eye called retinal pigmented epithelial atrophy (RPE) and of the cells that capture light, called photoreceptors — precursors to dry AMD, the researchers observed. (IANS)