Anti-ageing diet: Drink a cup of THIS every day to PREVENT blindness as you age
AGEING on your eyesight could halted with a daily cup of tea, according to new research.
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While some people make it into old age with perfect eyesight, your risk of suffering vision loss normally increases as the years go by.
Age-related eye diseases include glaucoma, which new research suggests could be staved off simply by having a tea break.
Glaucoma can lead to loss of eyesight, and affects two per cent of the UK population over the age of 40 years.
It causes fluid pressure to build up inside the eye which can damage the optic nerve.
There are often no early symptoms of glaucoma, but when it becomes more advanced, signs may include missing or patchy sight or even serious loss of vision.
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Drinking a hot cup of tea every day has been linked to lower risk of developing glaucoma
However, a study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology revealed that drinking a cup of hot tea every day was linked to lower risk of suffering from the condition.
Sipping on both decaffeinated and caffeinated hot coffee, decaffeinated tea, iced tea and soft drinks were not found to have a protective effect.
The researchers discovered that hot tea drinkers were 74 per cent less likely to have glaucoma.
For the study, researchers asked 1,678 people the caffeinated and decaffeinated drinks they had drunk over the preceding year.
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Dr Hilary Jones said there could one day be 'a brew infused with the same drugs as the contraceptive' and a 'tea combined with painkillers', could this be a future superfood?
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It is thought that the antioxidants as well as the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective chemicals in tea could provide the protective benefits to eyesight.
They have previously been linked to reduced likelihood of conditions including heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
Other research has also indicated that caffeine can alter intraocular pressure.
This led the scientists to explore the impact of decaffeinated and caffeinated drinks on glaucoma risk.
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The study authors said: “Further research is needed to establish the importance of these findings and whether hot tea consumption may play a role in the prevention of glaucoma.”
This may be because the study did not ask about cup size, tea type, or the length of brewing time, which may all have an influence.
Glaucoma is currently one of the leading causes of blindness around the world, and currently affects 57.5 million people globally.
This figure is expected to rise to 65.5 million by 2020.
