Why you should be eating your fruits and vegetables

Does your diet consist of a lot of fruits and vegetables? Or do you take a multivitamin every morning to make up for the nutrition you don’t get from eating?  A study was recently done on how genetic and dietary factors influence the progression of nuclearcataracts.  Cataracts cloud the vision of the eye, making it difficult to see things clearly.  Over a ten-year period, approximately 1000 sets of twins were studied for this particular experiment.  The researchers concluded that vitamin c from the diet was protective against nuclear cataracts at baseline as well as the progression of nuclear cataracts.  Those who used vitamin c supplements instead of primarily getting it from their diet were only protective against cataracts at baseline only.  The study also suggest that heredity is only 35% accountable, whereas your diet is 65% responsible.

According to this study, it shows that dietary vitamin C is drastically more beneficial than taking supplements.  Not enough studies have been done on the ways that micronutrients and vitamins effect the progression of cataracts.  This leads me to believe that there are other contributing factors in determining what protects your eyes from acquiring cataracts.

Eat Your Fruits and Veggies!

Fruits and vegetables can help fight cataracts according to an article by Roni Rabin. Cataracts are usually associated with a break down of lens microarchitecture and mostly occurs in older people. However, a new study shows that diet might play a greater role than genetics in their progression.

Britain studied about 1,000 pairs of female twins who were the average age of 60. They asked them detailed questions about their daily nutrient intake. The twins then underwent digital imaging of the eye for progression of cataracts. The researchers found that the women who had a diet rich in vitamin C, had a 20 percent lower risk in cataracts than those who did not. A rich diet in vitamin C includes two or more servings of vegetables and two or more servings of fruits per day.

Ten years later, scientists followed up with 324 of the twin pairs and they found that those who consumed more vitamin C, had a 33 percent lower risk of cataracts progressing than those who did not. The researchers concluded that environmental factors, including diet, account for 65 percent of cataract progression, where as genetic factors only account for 35 percent. So make sure to eat your fruits and veggies that are rich in vitamin C such as, oranges, kiwi and dark leafy greens!

I am glad I came upon this article because it has instilled how important eating fruits and vegetables everyday really is. Hopefully my level of vitamin C decreases my cataract progression in the future.

New Genetic Test can speed up diagnosis

There are over 200,000 children worldwide that are diagnosed with congenital cataracts every year and with a new blood test emerging December of this year the diagnoses of their illness and the treatment will come much faster than before. In conventional screenings for congenital cataracts the test would screen every gene individually to pinpoint the exact cause of the illness. This conventional screening though effective, is very costly and time consuming because there are over 100 genes with mutations that cause congenital cataracts and it takes 4 weeks just to screen and examine one gene. So sometimes children and their parents would have to wait years in order to receive a diagnosis and treatment plans, but the new genetic blood test can speed up the diagnosis process. With genetic sequencing doctors can look at all the genes at once in parallel with each other which makes the new test cost effective and time friendly. 

Though doctors aren't exactly positive on what the causes are for congenital cataracts in children, they believe that half is due to a genetic mutation and the other half is due to environmental factors that took place during pregnancy. It is also said that cataracts are not a standalone problem but a more complex one that shows its self with other symptoms and diseases such as Warburg Micro syndrome and galactokinase deficiency. These symptoms and diseases often go under diagnosed  because they are subtle in children, but with genetic sequencing and more tests to be conducted each day. Doctors become more knowledgeable on what causes congenital cataracts, how the will grow and progress,what type of treatments patients will undergo and the outcome of those procedures.

Barbuti,Allison. "Genetic Testing Speeds Up Diagnosis for Children with Congenital Cataracts."  http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=10662. 16 Sept. 2013. Web. 22 Sept. 2013.   

 I chose this article because I thought it was very interesting and surprising. I didn't realize that there were so many children affected with cataracts each year, nor did I know what types of tests doctors have used in order to diagnose their patients. I find it pretty amazing that with new technology, children are getting the help they need much faster and for a slightly reduced amount of money.