Nutritional Keys For Lifelong Eye Health!

From: GNLD NEWS YOU CAN USE North America Volume 32, 2011

Whole food nutrition, phytonutrients in particular, continue to draw attention at the crossroads between food, health, and disease. The amount of nutrients present in your diet is a critical predictor of your future health and risk of disease. This notion is gaining more traction against some skeptics as research backing it continues to mount.

Since the early days when nutritional science first began (circa1900) we have had an understanding that nutrition is important to vision. For the vast majority of that time however the only connection made was with vitamin A preventing night blindness. Mothers and grandmothers seemed to know this long before the scientists eventually proved them right. It turnsa out that vitamin A, technically known as retinol is needed by the retina for both light sensitivity and color vision. For several decades that relationship of nutrition to eye health seemed to be the only one science was willing to accept.

For more than a decade there has been a revolution in our understanding of the broader connection of nutrition to lifelong eye health and visual acuity. It is now well accepted and understood that the eye is a unique organ faced with challenges that no other organ faces. Like essentially everything else in the body, how well the eye deals with those challenges and provides us with the essential ability to see clearly, is now known to be dependent upon a wide array of whole food nutrients we need to protect our eyesight and what happens when we don’t have enough of them. Here’s some of the very latest science telling us about how to plan for lifelong healthy eyes and vision.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Protect Vision!
Writing in the May 19, 2011 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, US National Institute of Health Director Dr. Emily Chew (MD) summarized her review of scientific literature by concluding that for age-related eye disease (age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy), taking an omega-3 supplement to prevent the disease or slow its rate of progression may prove a better course of action that the current, often painful, therapies.1

Another high-level study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology reported that regular of consumption of an omega-3 rich diet reduced the risk of vision loss due to AMD by 45%. The evidence, drawn from more than 38,000 women, caused the leader of the combined research team from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard Medical School, Dr. William Christen to state that the results of this study “…appear to be the strongest evidence to date to support the role of omega-3 long chain fatty acids in primary prevention of AMD, and perhaps the reduction in the number of people who ultimately have advanced AMD.”2

From:
ARIANNA CARUGHI
Ph.D., C.N.S.,
Nutritional Scientist,
Stanford Fellow

Like everything else in the body vision is nutrient dependent. A good diet promotes good long-term visual health while a poor diet tends to undermine that. In your plan to live to a ripe old age don’t overlook this key nutritional knowledge; when it comes to clear, crisp lifelong vision… diet matters!

Probably everyone has heard that vitamin A is important for night vision. You may even know that vitamins C and E protect against clouding of the lens or that the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin are particularly important to the health of the retina and protect against age-related macular degeneration (AMD). But the latest vision health discoveries confirm omega-3 fatty acids are protective against AMD, diabetic retinopathy and other diseases that affect the nerves and tissues of our eye is also important news that everyone should hear. This powerful evidence reinforces the fact that diet is the strongest tool we can all use to help ourselves and our families live long, healthy, and fully functional lives.

The message is clear. Those same whole food nutrients that fend off chronic disease and maximize our physical and mental functionality throughout our lives also protect and promote our most precious sensory system, our eyesight. My recommendations for everyone are simple. Make sure you eat as much fruit, vegetable, whole grain and fish as you can—and use GNLD supplements to make sure you get what you need.

As reported by the United States Department of Agriculture “About 16 million people in the United States over age 45 report some vision loss. This group may find hope in the growing body of evidence that diet can influence eye health.”
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GNLD SCIENCE: ON THE WORLD STAGE IN THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE
As evidence for her recommendation in The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Chew cited an article from the 9 February 2011 edition of Science Translational Medicine.3 Co-authored by GNLD SAB member Dr. Arianna Carughi, this article referenced evidence that was drawn in part from GNLD’s human clinical trial on Salmon Oil Plus. The powerful, health promoting benefits of this unique and exclusive 8-member omega-3 fatty acid supplement continues to build, drawing increasing attention from leading edge researchers and the health conscious consumer intent on providing their body only the best. The high level of the journal involved is further testament to the leading edge science behind GNLD products.

CAROTENOID LUTEIN PROTECTS AGAINST STRONG LIGHT
Many vision scientists believe that sudden or repeated exposure to strong light, such as that from computer screens, causes more than just the temporary visual anomaly of “blue spots” floating in your vision. Researchers from Japan feel that such exposure triggers apoptosis (cell death) in photoreceptor cells and thinning of the layer of photoreceptor cells at the back of the eye. In the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, the researchers concluded, “Although lutein has been applied as a dietary supple for chronic diseases, such as AMD, it may have a chance to be involved as a preventative medicine for acute diseases in the future.”4

GNLD CAROTENOID COMPLEX—FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The role of carotenoids in general and lutein (and its close relative zeaxanthin) in particular in the preservation of eyesight has long been known to GNLD’s Scientific Advisory Board. When the initial formulation was made, the SAB standardized the whole food ingredients to assure that each capsule delivered the equivalent of a whole serving of lutein-rich foods. Today, this highly tested, frequently published, comprehensive, exclusive, and patented product (drawn completely from carrots, tomatoes, spinach, red bell pepper, peaches, strawberries, and apricots) continues to define the ultimate in whole food carotenoid supplementation.

VITAMIN D PROMOTES EYE HEALTH
Data published in the April 2011 issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology shows those women with the highest average daily vitamin D intake (15.1 mcg or 604 IU) had a 59% lower risk for AMD than those with the lowest average intake (7.9 mcg or 316 IU). From analysis of blood samples from 1,313 women age 50 to 79 concluded that an inverse association existed between early AMD and blood vitamin D levels in women younger than 75 years. Those with the highest intake had the lowest risk, and visa versa.5

Important practices for vision protection: In addition to assuring that your diet is abundant in vision health promoting nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids, carotenoids and vitamin D a few simple, easy lifetime practices can also help greatly.

FROM: Age-Related Macular Degeneration What You Should Know
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
National Institute of Health
National Eye Institute

DOES LIFESTYLE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
Some lifestyle choices, like smoking, are linked to AMD although it remains unknown if altering any of these would alter the impact of AMD on an individual. Nevertheless, the following choices may have an impact on AMD and certainly promote healthy living, including the following:
• Avoid smoking
• Exercising
• Maintaining normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels
• Eating a healthy diet rich in green, leafy vegetables and fish

GNLD SUPPLEMENTS—FILL THE GAPS
In addition to an overall healthy lifestyle that includes exercise, the avoidance of smoking, and maintaining normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, GNLD recommends a diet abundant in nutrients that promote healthy vision, including omega-3 fatty acids, carotenoids, and vitamin D. When daily factors such as food choice availability and hectic schedules leave gaps in the diet, the GNLD supplements can be trusted to fill the gaps.

FACTOIDS:
Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of blindness. One of the accumulative effects from the steady stream of light charged particles called photons is damage to the retina that causes the degeneration of the macula, the highly sensitive tissue at the center of the retina that provides the tight focus associated with reading or telling one face from another. There are two forms of AMD called “dry” and “wet”. Though the processes are somewhat different the outcome is the same—loss of central vision and possible detachment of the retina and ultimately legal blindness.

Diabetic Retinopathy is the loss of eyesight brought about by damage to the retina. It is an indicator of an underlying systemic disease. 89% of all people with type 2 diabetes (mellitus) persisting for more than 10 years experience some effect of this condition.6

Article is from: GNLD NEWS YOU CAN USE North America Volume 32, 2011

REFERENCES
1. Chew EY, Fatty acids and retinopathy, New England Journal of Medicine, 2011; 364:1970
2. Christen WG, et al. Dietary n-3 fatty acids and fish intake and incident Age-related Macular Degeneration in women. Archives of Ophthalmology. 2011; 129(7): 921-929, doi:10/1001/archopaphthmol.2011.34
3. Sapieha P, et al. 5-lipoxygenase metabolite 4-HDHA is a mediator of the antiangiogenic effect of w-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Science Translational Medicine. 2011; 3(69) doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3001571
4. Sasaki M., Biological role of lutein in the light induced retinal degeneration. Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. 2011; doi: 10.1016/j. jnutbio.2011.01.006
5. Millen AE, et al. Vitamin D status and early age related macular degeneration in postmenopausal women. Archives of Ophthalmology. 2011; 129(4): 481:489. Doi: 10.1001/archophthalmol.2011.48
6. Klein R, Klein BE, Moss SE, et al. The Wisconsin Epidemiologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy. II. Prevalence and risk of diabetic retinopathy when age at diagnosis is less than 30 years. Arch Ophthalmo 1984;102:520-6.

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