Consumption of High-Glycemix-Index Foods Increases Risk of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD)

Filed in archive Studies on July 11, 2007

The quality of carbohydrates that you consume is linked to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and the vision loss that goes with the condition.

What quality of carbohydrates? Glycemic Index will make the difference, it is a scale applied to foods based on how quickly the carbohydrates in foods are converted to blood sugar, or glucose.

For example, foods with high -glycemic -index are white rice, pasta and bread while those with low-glycemic-index are whole wheat versions of rice, pasta and bread.

Those with low-glycemic-index are usually considered higher quality carbohydrates because they are associated with a slower and less dramatic rise and fall of blood sugar as opposed to a faster rise and subsequent drop in blood sugar in the case of carbos with high-glycemic index.

Now that we've straightened the quality of carbohydrates, I might as well already mention that intake of foods with high-glycemic index is being linked to increased risk of developing early AMD.

A study published in the July issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has the evidences to back up the claim.

According to Allen Taylor, PhD, director of the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University:

"Our results support our hypothesis that dietary glycemic index, which has been related to the risk of diabetes, is also associated with the risk and severity of AMD.

It is possible that the type of damage produced by poor quality carbohydrates on eye tissue is similar in both diabetic eye disease and AMD."

Typically occurring after middle age, AMD is the leading cause of blindness. Findings from this particular study suggest that alteration of carbohydrate type in the diet may help diminish that.

Find more details from the full report.