Some Lesser-Known Facts About The Causes Of Cataracts
Through long-time research in the study of the eye, it has been found that each of us, on average, from birth will lose approximately 1 % of the light transmission through the lens of the eye for each year of our lives. Now, this does not mean that we all lose the same ability in the lens of our eye to transmit the light falling on our eye from a light source to reach the retina at the back of the eye. Some in their teens may already begin to lose some of the light penetration through the lens and thus dim the image that reaches their retina. The reason for any change at such a young age may be due to excessive sun exposure at an early age.
Usually, this is a very slow process over decades of time and even with great amounts of exposure to ultra-violet rays, some may never experience any noticeable lessening in vision brightness throughout their lives, even into their 80's. This could be due to a healthy life style throughout their earlier life.
So, How Can We Avoid The Possibility Of Cataracts?
First of all, the eye is filled with a fluid called aqueous humus. This liquid is affected by ultra-violet, which over time begins to darken because of oxidation caused by the ultra-violet light, becoming more and more opaque as we age. The greater amount of ultra-violet received through this media, the more opaque it will become. Please remember that this effect will vary with each individual. With this, as we age, for a few people who have the greatest exposure over time are more affected than others may require some surgical correction to return their vision to normal.
Of course, in order to avoid any deterioration in the light transmission, or darkening of the optics of the eye, one could stay in their home, away from windows all their lives, but this would not a very pleasant way to live. There is a much less constraining way to achieve more all around and better results. Anti-oxidants, or the lack thereof, we are told by experts, can enable this condition to happen over time, but, we are told by these same experts in nutrition that vitamin C, if taken on a daily basis, in the amounts between 300-2,000 mg. should prevent most of the oxidation of the Tran missive material within the eye, thus preventing the onset of cataracts.
This amount of vitamin C of course would require eating at least several oranges per day (and possibly even a little more from other fruits and vegetables), so using a supplement in this case would be a lot simpler than ingesting all those oranges, etc.. Vitamin C usually comes in a standard 500 mg. pill, or greater. There are many other anti-oxidants, but vitamin C is usually added to most juices and was used in this testing because of its safety of use.
One thing that was found was that once the cataract has progressed, reversal of this eye condition was not an option, even after using mega-doses of this vitamin.
A Portion of the Research Verification That Led To This Article
One assumption is that people don't need antioxidant supplement until they become unhealthy. But the Journal of the American Medical Association admits the destructive process of oxidation is involved in virtually every disease. [J Am Med Assn 271: 1148-49, 1994] Aging, disease and antioxidant status often parallel each other. Living tissues slowly age or wear out, they don't become ill overnight.
For example, the focusing lens of the human eye loses about 1 percent of its clarity for every year of life. Cataract formation is universal and slowly progressive with advancing age. By age 60 only about 35 percent of light reaches the retina. By age 85 a person needs a 250-watt light bulb to see what they saw with a 60-watt light bulb when they were 20 years old. The level of vitamin C in the lens of the eye has been correlated with severity of cataract.
If an individual consumes the minimum amount of vitamin C that produces healthful benefits - 90 mg. per day by the NAS standards, National Academy of Sciences - And waits till they develop a cataract to take more vitamin C, it will probably be too late to reverse a cataract. About 300-2000 mg per day of vitamin C would be required to prevent cataracts, according to the data at hand.
