Home / Nieuws / ...

Gezonde voeding voor gezonde ogen*
Uit een studie onder ruim 4.000 mensen in de leeftijd van 55 tot 80 jaar blijkt dat goede voeding belangrijk is om gezonde ogen te houden op latere leeftijd en het verlies aan zicht als gevolg van macula degeneratie of andere zicht beperkende ziektes tegen te gaan. Gezonde voeding voor goede ogen is volgens de studie: voeding met een lage GI (glycemische index) en voeding rijk aan omega-3 vetzuren DHA en EPA, vitamine C en E, luteïne, zeaxanthine en het mineraal zink.
The Potential Of Nutrition To Save Sight
While 20/20 vision is a symbol of visual acuity, between now and the year 2020, more and more people will experience some extent of vision loss due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and other sight-robbing diseases. 
Now, Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-funded scientists at the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research are finding that healthy eating can reduce not only health care costs, but also the decline of quality of life due to these diseases. The laboratory, directed by Allen Taylor, is part of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, Mass. 
One study indicated that regularly consuming a combination of protective nutrients and a low-glycemic-index, or "slow carb," diet provided an AMD protective effect. A food's glycemic index is an indicator of how fast the carbohydrate it contains will spike blood sugar levels. The macula is a 3-millimeter-wide yellow spot near the center of the retina responsible for the central field of vision. 
For the study, the researchers analyzed dietary intake and other data from more than 4,000 men and women, aged 55 to 80, who had participated in the long-term Age-Related Eye Disease Study, or AREDS. Led by Chung-Jung Chiu, the researchers ranked intake of each of several nutrients consumed during the AREDS study, then calculated a compound score to gauge their combined dietary effect on the risk of AMD. The scoring system allowed them to evaluate associations between individual - and combined - dietary nutrients. 
The nutrients that were found to be most protective in combination with the low-glycemic-index diet were vitamins C and E, zinc, lutein, zeaxanthin, and the omega-3 fatty acids known as DHA and EPA. The study was published in Ophthalmology. 
Source: United States Department of Agriculture-Research, Education, and Economics (September 2010)