CARBOHYDRATES AND VISION LOSS
If there is any group of foods that have taken a sound bashing in recent times for adverse health effects (especially regarding weight issues), it is the carbohydrate food group. This reputation however is unfair and I will address it at a later date. Incidentally, carbohydrates form the staple foods in the Ghanaian diet and for that matter any current research information on the subject should be of particular interest to every Ghanaian. Today however, my focus is not so much on how carbs ( the western slang for carbohydrates) affect our weight but on current research that suggests that, consuming higher-than-average amounts of carbohydrates that cause blood sugar levels to spike and fall rapidly could be a risk factor for central vision loss with aging.
Scientists supported by the Agricultural Research Service of the United States of America reported the findings this year in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The researchers analyzed dietary intake and other data from more than 4,000 men and women aged 55 to 80 participating in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study, or AREDS.
The research further suggested that consuming a diet high in fast carbs was also suspected of being involved in the vision loss that sometimes occurs in people with diabetes. The researchers theorized that the type of damage to eye tissue produced by fast carbs could be similar in both AMD( age related macular degeneration) and diabetic eye disease.
Examples of carbohydrates that cause blood sugar to spike and fall rapidly (fast carbs) in the Ghanaian diet are, polished grains and their products eg white rice, white bread, white(insiwho) kenkey etc. Sugar, sweets, fruit juices and syrups also fall into this category. Porridges made from strained cereals are also included here.
These foods are also known as high glycemic index foods ie foods that cause blood sugar to rise rapidly on consumption.
On the other hand examples of low glycaemic index foods or foods that elicit a gradual increase in blood glucose are unpolished cereals and their products ie brown rice, fanti and ga kenkey, oats, wheat tom brown, most vegetables and root and stem tubers.
Whislt it may be too early to recommend low glycemic index foods as a preventive strategy for age-related macular degeneration(vision loss), replacing fast acting carbohydrates with low glycemic index ones may be beneficial in slowing the rate of age related vision loss. Diabetics also stand to benefit: both in their blood glucose control and in the prevention of diabetes related vision loss.
BY LAURENE BOATENG
9 Responses to “CARBOHYDRATES AND VISION LOSS”
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thanks for the article.very informative for diabetics.i have been looking for info on ghanaian foods and diabetes.in the advanced countries they count carbs or measure their food when dieting.would you in future recomend the size of kenkey, fingers of plantain etc., a diabetic can consume at a time?
I am shocked about this finding. I thought fruits,and for that matter their juice is very good. Now they are bad ?
this is a worry
Ekow
Can i plese get a list of food in our regular intake, which has the carbohydrates, along with the amount(%)
Thanks
kaka liki
the info is exceptional
hello there would you like to lick my willy c=3
sillyness… the main threat to health from food is over consumption (of anything)… especially since almost all food now is tainted with chemicals- so the less you eat, the less poison you are consuming overall. and just because something makes your blood sugar spike doesn’t mean it’s bad- i.e. fruit juice. plenty of super healthy long time fruitarians out there prove them wrong; besides what other food is as obvious a human food as fruits that you can just go out, take from nature, and eat immediately. that is also a whole lot different than something like white flour. try and think for yourselves.
and lets not dismiss that most people (especially americans!) do not eat a healthy diet, and have not for most if not all of their lives, so when they do eat something simple and healthy like fruit, the affect is likely not the same as someone who regularly eats fruit/juice (and we’re talking fresh, live juice, not the dead/pasteurized/shipped-across-country/stored-for-months for the benefit of business juice/food. in case you haven’t noticed, the only thing that matters to the american government is “economy”, or “for the benefit of business”; things like health & quality of life are of no concern the businessmen running the land. thats why they continue to sell sunscreen with chemicals known to cause skin cancer, which other countries have banned, until company stock piles run down. that’s why the gov’t allows endless streams of legal/illegal immigrants to pour into their country- they are “importing” consumers/taxpayers since americans aren’t having the number of babies they need to sustain growth/profits. that’s why they allow the continued use of thousands of toxic chemicals, like bpa in baby bottles. that’s why they allow almost any unproven marketing claim, especially on alternative products like vitamins & supplements… and on and on, as long as the people are spending as much money as possible. we now see the cancer stage of capitalism- everything for economy no matter what the cost). note your body will respond very differently to live vs. commercial/dead food.
fix the obvious first. if you want to fix “disease”, start with fixing the food. as if there are not enough toxic chemicals all around us every day, now it is very difficult to even find food that does not have chemicals in it. exposing the root of your immunity, your gut, to toxic/artificial chemicals many times/day, with little bits in EVERYTHING you eat now, is certainly going to make you ill. bioaccumulation, hello. of course, with western endless growth economics, sick people will/do spend lots of time & money supporting their profiteering post wwII “health” systems which is mostly an image and deceptive marketing campaign.
Hello Lauren
My addres will not pop up. but perhaps you could contact peacefm for my email address which is now showing above on the form i am yet to submit. Pls contact me via email when you have a bit of time.
Kind regards
pls can u tell me the dishes diabetic patients should avoid.thanks