Sugar Consumption, Diabetic Retinopathy and Macular Degeneration

How Sweet it Isn’t – Sugar Consumption and Macular Degeneration According to an article appearing in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, eating lots of sugary or starchy foods may make eyes more vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration. It is recommended that you consume carbohydrates that don’t make your blood sugar spike quickly. These include Read More » The post Sugar Consumption, Diabetic Retinopathy and Macular Degeneration appeared first on Arkansas Acupuncture Center.

How Sweet it Isn’t – Sugar Consumption and Macular Degeneration

According to an article appearing in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, eating lots of sugary or starchy foods may make eyes more vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration. It is recommended that you consume carbohydrates that don’t make your blood sugar spike quickly. These include unrefined, or unprocessed grains; avoiding foods made with white flour, white sugar or corn syrup. People with diets highest on the glycemic index were the most likely to have advanced AMD in at least one eye. Researchers estimate that at least a fifth of those suffering from advanced AMD might have been able to prevent the disease by eating foods low on the glycemic index. The study showed a correlation between blood sugar spikes (from foods high in sugar or corn syrup) and poor eye health.

Simply put, the glycemic index, which goes from 100 to 0, indicates how quickly a food raises blood sugar levels. Glucose is rated at 100, and the closer to 100 a food is rated, the more it affects blood sugar levels. The more refined the food, the higher the glycemic index. White sugar and corn syrup are way up there, as is white flour.

Heavy consumption of foods with a high glycemic index has also been implicated in the development of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Diabetic retinopathy is a complication of diabetes that affects the eyes. It is caused by damage to the blood vessels of the light sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. Diabetes can cause vision in your eyes to change even if you do not have diabetic retinopathy. If your blood sugar levels change quickly, it can affect the shape of your eye’s lens, causing blurry vision, which goes back to normal after your blood sugar stabilizes.

There are many reasons to avoid sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Not only do they both contribute to the development of AMD and diabetes, they are a leading cause of hypertension, heart disease and obesity, actually shutting off the hormone in the brain that tells us we are full, that we’ve had enough to eat. Corn syrup is especially bad for health, as it is a chemically derived, toxic substance that is made from genetically modified (GMO) corn. GMO foods should be avoided at all costs because of the extremely detrimental risk to your health, having been linked to thousands of toxic and allergic reactions in the human body. In order to study the effects of GMO’s on health, animals must be force fed GMO foods. They are too smart to eat them otherwise. High fructose corn syrup has found its way into almost every processed food we eat. But don’t be fooled, the Corn Refiners Association has changed the name since so many people now know how toxic this food is. It is now listed as ‘fructose’. Why do food producers use it? Because it’s cheap, and that’s all that matters.

If you eat a lot of sugar it is recommended that you should get regular eye exams. You can switch to coconut sugar which is very low on the glycemic index. Those with diabetes or at high risk for the condition should plan to have their eyes examined more often. If you eat a lot of processed foods, educate yourself and stop doing it. It could save you from a lifetime of health problems, and the cost of that is much higher.

Here at the Arkansas Acupuncture Center, where we perform macular degeneration treatments and diabetic retinopathy treatments with acupuncture, we encourage patients to avoid sugar consumption if they have macular degeneration, and especially with diabetic retinopathy.