Question:
I know that Vit. C, A and Zinc are important to eye health; but is there
some nutritional regimen that goes toward preventing cataracts?
Answer:
Opthamalogists for years have prescribed vitamins
A, C, and E to treat and prevent macular degeneration,
knowing the anti-oxidant capabilities. The Massasschusetts
Eye and Ear hospital, the most sophisticated, well-known
hospital for opthamalogy in the world, centered a study
involving 20 facilities. The study concluded that vitamins
A, C and E did not prevent macular degeneration.
Appended is an abstract I found
in a medline search on "fructose and cataracts". Note, this
study does not speak to the issue of whether dietary taurine
supplementation can increase its levels in the eye.
Modifications in lens protein structure and function due to
nonenzymic glycosylation and oxidation have been suggested to play
a significant role in the pathogenesis of sugar and senile
cataracts. The glycation reaction involves an initial Schiff base
formation between the protein NH2 groups and the carbonyl group of
a reducing sugar.
