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June 25, 2005
High Carb Diet Related to Cataract Risk
Because any funds in a Health Savings Account (HSA) that are not withdrawn to pay medical expenses continue to grow tax-deferred, an account-holder who stays healthy and uses less of their HSA money can end up with dramatically more funds in their account when they retire. One of the most powerful dietary strategies to reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other degenerative disorders is to limit the amount of high-glycemic carbohydrates you eat. Sugar, rice, pasta, bread, and other high-carbohydrate foods cause increased blood sugar and insulin levels, which appear to promote many different health problems, including cataracts.
A study was just published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that compared incidence of cataracts in middle-aged women to the carbohydrate content of the food they ate. 17.2% of all Americans over age 40, an estimated 20.5 million people, have cataracts. Lens clouding begins months or even years before vision is affected. The main hypothesis is that the soluble proteins in the lense begin to "cross-link" by reacting with sugars and each other, eventually forming clumps that precipitate out of solution.
It appears that higher carbohydrate intakes and plasma concentrations of glucose result in chronically enhanced exposure of lens proteins to glucose. And sure enough, this study found that the women who ate the highest levels of carbohydrates had higher rates of cataracts.
More and more evidence continues to pile up showing that the high-carbohydrate diet that has been promoted by the establishment as "healthy", really is not. High levels of carbohydrates, such as found in sugar, grains, and potatoes, lead to quite a few health problems. Cataracts are just one of many - we'll talk about more later.
Posted by Wiley Long at June 25, 2005 10:32 AM