Processed Carbohydrates May Increase Risk For Age-Related Blindness, Study Finds

"Cut back on those refined carbs" is a message you often hear me urge you here. Those of you who have read my book SUGAR SHOCK! know that I support ample research to back my contention.

Now comes yet another study revealing how those culprit carbs could lead to macular degeneration, which is a medical condition predominantly found in elderly adults in which the center of the inner lining of the eye.

Indeed, older adults may help stave off the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by limiting their intake of high glycemic index foods, according to a new study from rsearchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University.

Indeed, of nearly 5,000 men and women ages 55 to 80 who participated in the nationwide Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), those participants who ate the most high-glycemic-index foods—quickie carbs like white bread and sugar-filled sodas—were 17 percent more likely to develop blinding AREDS than those who consumed the fewest.

Today, AMD is estimated to cause partial to total blindness in seven to 15 percent of the elderly, and public health officials fear a looming crisis in the United States by 2020.

By that time, they expect the rates of AMD-related vision loss to have doubled to three million, according to the Tufts University announcement.

The study, led by Allen Taylor, Ph.D. , director of the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at USDA HNRCA, appeared in the October edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Thanks to Karen James for contributing to this report.