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Macular Degeneration Essay

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Age related Macular Degeneration or AMD is a disease that affects millions of Americans every year. There are several factors that contribute to this disease, those being: exposure to bright light, diet, hereditary factors and gender. The main ones that can be controlled consist of exposure to bright light and diet. Those that cannot be controlled are hereditary factors and gender. Prevention of macular degeneration consists of reducing the eyes exposure to bright light and the daily diet of the person at risk. What I seek to explore is if adopting to the Mediterranean diet will create the needed health benefit to prevent the onset of AMD. The Mediterranean diet is one which focuses on eating seafood, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and healthy fats from things such as olive …show more content…

The “poor” diet of the southern Mediterranean consisting mainly of fruits and vegetables. Beans and nuts, healthy grains, fish, olive oil, small amounts of dairy, and red wine, proved to be much more likely to lead to lifelong good health.” (Tufts University Health and nutrition letter,2013). Researchers analyzed the diets of 883 people age 55 and older for two years and found that the more closely they followed the Med diet, the lower their risk for AMD. Fifty percent of those who didn’t closely follow the diet had AMD, while 39 percent who closely adhered to the diet had AMD—a 35 percent lower risk in comparison ( Med Diet Cuts Macular Degeneration Risk ,(2017). This is supported also by the article “Eat more like a Mediterranean to protect your eyes”, where a high consumption of fish, fish oil, nuts and lutein and zeaxanthin obtained from eating vegetables reduced the risk of AMD. It goes on to state later that it involves a decrease in oxidative stress and inflammation that play a role in AMD formation. As stated by Michael Hoster, “Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation can slow or inhibit choroidal

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