Both doctors and the public have shown growing interest in the relationship between diet and health. Good nutrition depends on a healthy mixture of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. Protein is needed for the building blocks and chemical machinery of our bodies; carbohydrates are needed for immediate fuel and energy; fats are needed for long term storage of fuel and energy. Vitamins are organic compounds that our bodies cannot manufacture but are essential for maintaining good health. .
The eye, like any other part of the body, benefits from a healthy diet, and if you are one of the millions at risk of losing your vision from age-related macular degeneration, a simple regimen of antioxidants and zinc may even save your eyesight. If those at risk took the antioxidants, hundreds of thousands of people would preserve their vision, researchers say in a new study published in Archives of Ophthalmology late last year.
Age-related macular degeneration is the number one cause of vision loss and legal blindness in adults over 60 in the U.S. and it is the fastest-growing form of the several types of macular degeneration. Macular degeneration, a progressive eye condition, attacks the macula of the eye, where your sharpest central vision occurs. The condition affects 15 million people in the United States and millions more around the world. This disease rarely causes complete blindness, but it robs you of all but the outermost, peripheral vision, leaving just dim images or black holes at the center of vision, which severely limits a person's quality of life.
Although macular degeneration can occur during middle age, the risk increases as a person gets older. Results of a large study show that people in their 50s have about a two percent chance of getting the disease. This risk rises to nearly 30 percent in those over 75. Risk factors other than age include smoking, family history, high cholesterol levels and gender.