Vivek Singh Chauhan
Lucknow: Oranges not only strengthen bones but also protects eyesight. According to a new research regular intake of oranges can reduce the risk of ‘Macular degeneration(MD)’ (a nasty form of sight loss), by 60 percent.
Macula, the central part of retina starts deteriorating and tiny spots appear on it when degeneration takes place. Unfortunately, the exact cause of its degeneration is yet to be known. In most of the cases, the symptoms appear when people are in their 50s and 60s.
This study by a team of scientists in University of Sydney, Australia was conducted on 2,037 individuals aged 50 and above, who were asked about their dietary habits and after one and half decade, a follow up was taken. The result of this detailed study suggests that those who reported eating oranges regularly were significantly less vulnerable to get affected by the disease.
The data collected by the researchers suggests that the benefits are due to presence of flavonoids in oranges. Flavonoids are a chemical that give fruits and vegetables their distinctive colour and can also be used as powerful antioxidants.
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Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) accounts for 8.7% of the total blindness globally, and is the third common cause of visual impairment in the world. The persons with ARMD are likely to increase from three to six million by the year 2020, according to Indian Journal of Ophthalmology.
Dr. Poonam Tiwari, a dietician at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute, Lucknow said, “To prevent macular degeneration, we must include vitamin C and Zinc as regular part of our diet whether it come from oranges or from other sources. Vitamin C consist the combination of various antioxidants that is important to stop degeneration. If citrus and non-citrus fruits like guava, Indian gooseberry, oranges and papaya which are rich in antioxidants, are taken regularly then definitely the chances of disease prevention, will be high.
“Although degeneration of macula cannot be cured but the rate of degeneration can be slowed down through medical procedures,hence early detection is important,” said Dr. Sanjeev Gupta, an ophthalmologist at Balrampur Hospital, Lucknow.“As the severity of disease increases, its detention possibilities go down and sometimes situation becomes uncontrollable,” he added.
Dr. Sanjeev Gupta Said that the number of macular degeneration cases, is growing rapidly as people don’t go for an eye checkup, hence many of these cases remain undetected. High blood pressure and stress is also responsible for this condition.As yet there’s no cure, but perhaps oranges and other citrus fruits will one day form the basis of a preventative treatment.
Dr. Ravi Bhatia, an eye specialist at Raebareli based ‘Sitapur Eye Hospital’ said, “Patient of macular degeneration becomes partially blind and gradually the blindness escalates with the severity of the condition.”
“Wet and dry are the two types of it and 90 percent of the patients are suffer from dry type. As exact reason is not known, yet it is supposed that dry macular degeneration comes with the age, because of drying of natural liquid present in eyes. Whereas wet form of the disease is caused by excess of contaminated liquid present in the eyes of patient,” he added.
Pointing out the importance of research about this wide spread eye disorder he said, “As there is very little information available about the problem, so more research needed to determine the exact cause of it and hence it can be cured in near future.”