Reducing Intake of Refined Carbs May Delay Progression of AMD

Filed in archive Eye Health , Functional Foods , Studies on October 31, 2007

AMD or age-related macular degeneration is an eye condition that develops with age often leading to partial or total blindness.




Now, according to researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA human nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Eating fewer refined carbohydrates may slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

[Refined carbohydrates like white bread and white rice have high glycemic indices.]

According to the study's first author Chung-Jung Chiu, DDS, PhD, scientist in the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the USDA HNRCA and assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine:

"Our data showed those people in the high-glycemic-index group were at greater risk of AMD progression, especially those already in the late stages. Participants who consumed the most refined carbohydrates were 17 percent more likely to develop blinding AMD than the group that consumed the least."

Sometimes it really pays to make dietary changes, like picking the wheat versions of rice, pasta and bread, for instance.

Findings appear in the October issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

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