Healthy Eating Lowers Cataract Risk in Women
Women should protect their eyes by maintaining a healthy diet. If you're not doing it to lose weight, do it for your health.
It may be a nagging reminder to most women, especially as you age, but there isn't any harm in taking precaution now than suffering in the future.
Good nutrition can prevent you from getting cataract:
According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, more than 20 million Americans 40 and older have cataracts. Half of all Americans have cataracts by age 80.
“Results from this study indicate that healthy diets, which reflect adherence to the U.S. dietary guidelines at the time of entry in the ... study, are more strongly related to the lower occurrence of nuclear cataracts than any other modifiable risk factor or protective factor studied in this sample of women,” the researchers write. “Lifestyle improvements that include healthy diets, smoking cessation, and avoiding obesity may substantively lower the need for and economic burden of cataract surgery in aging American women."
The research team notes that cataract risk was not “driven by any single dimension of diet.” They also point out that women who ate healthier food were also women who had more education, were older, and engaged in other healthy lifestyle habits, including maintaining a low body weight, being more physically active, and being less likely to smoke.
“Results from this study indicate that healthy diets, which reflect adherence to the U.S. dietary guidelines at the time of entry in the ... study, are more strongly related to the lower occurrence of nuclear cataracts than any other modifiable risk factor or protective factor studied in this sample of women,” the researchers write. “Lifestyle improvements that include healthy diets, smoking cessation, and avoiding obesity may substantively lower the need for and economic burden of cataract surgery in aging American women."
The research team notes that cataract risk was not “driven by any single dimension of diet.” They also point out that women who ate healthier food were also women who had more education, were older, and engaged in other healthy lifestyle habits, including maintaining a low body weight, being more physically active, and being less likely to smoke.
[WebMD]
