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