Prevent Macular Degeneration with Nutrition

Conventional medicine offers no effective prevention for macular degeneration. Over 40 scientific studies, however, confirm the value of food in preventing the condition.

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that the more survey respondents ate fruits and vegetables high in beta-carotene, the less they likely they were to develop macular degeneration. Eating collard greens and spinach, in particular, is associated with a lower rate of the disease. The Beaver Dam Eye Study examined the diets of 2,003 individuals aged 43 to 84 and found that consumption of foods containing either beta-carotene (the collard greens and spinach previously mentioned, as well as apricots, carrots, mangoes, and squash) or vitamin E (such as nuts) prevented the formation of drusens, spots of pigmentation that precede the development of macular degeneration.

Drinking as little as one glass of wine a month seems to confer some protection against macular degeneration. In its nutritional assessment of 3,072 adults aged 45 through 74, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that only 4 percent of adults who drank wine developed macular degeneration, compared to 9 percent who drank no alcohol at all. The Beaver Dam Eye Study, on the other hand, found that men who consumed at least one beer a week had a higher (11 percent) rate of early development of age-related macular degeneration than men who did not drink beer (7 percent). Beer-drinking was also associated with the development of pre-degenerative drusens.

Lutein is a chemical relative of beta-carotene that is found in carrots, corn, greens, potatoes, tomatoes, and most fruits. Zeaxanthin is another relative of beta-carotene corn, fruit, paprika, and spinach. Both compounds are strong antioxidants. Their role in the plants that provide them is to keep chlorophyll from attack by free radicals. Along with three other antioxidants, vitamins A, C, and E, they perform a similar function in the retina. Lutein and zeaxanthin also give the macula its characteristic yellow color, lutein tending to accumulate around the edges of the eye, and zeaxanthin accumulating in the center of the eye.

Individually, none of these five antioxidants, lutein, zeaxanthin, or vitamins A, C, or E, confers complete protection against macular degeneration. Consumed together, these five antioxidants offer significant protection against macular degeneration. The evidence provided by epidemiological studies strongly suggests that eating foods that contain these nutrients protects the macula. Definite benefits also accrue from eating selenium-rich foods, notably BroccoSprouts, and zinc-rich foods, such as barley, beef, chicken, crab, lamb, oysters, turkey, and whole wheat.