Some vegetables may prevent macular degeneration

Eat your vegetables, and you may avoid age-related vision loss.

Corn, squash, broccoli, and peas all contain carotenoids, yellow pigments that studies have suggested may reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in older adults. Egg yolks and squash are also carotenoid-rich also.

In a current study, researchers at the University of Wisconsin in Madison examined the diets of more than 1,700 women ages 50 to 79 and found that those younger than 75 who ate a diet rich in the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin appear to have lowered their risk of intermediate AMD.

The investigation was conducted as an ancillary study of the Women's Health Initiative project, one of the most far-reaching programs of research on women's health ever undertaken in the United States. The findings were published in the journal Archives of Opthamology.

Source: "Associations Between Intermediate Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Lutein and Zeaxanthin in the Carotenoids in Age-Related Eye Disease Study (CAREDS),"Archives of Ophthalmolgy 2006;124:1151-1162

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