MELBOURNE, Australia—Women who consume higher amounts of carbohydrates appear to have a greater risk of developing cortical and nuclear lens opacities, according to new findings from the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project (Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. ePub Feb. 24, 2010; DOI: 10.1167/iovs.08-2824). While in vitro and in vivo studies suggest dietary carbohydrate intake plays a role in development of cataracts, researchers from the University of Melbourne and Tufts University, Boston, sought to determine whether the association held in humans.
A total of 1,609 non-diabetic participants from the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project (VIP), with a mean age of 57.6 years, provided dietary information from a semiquantitiative food frequency questionnaire, and were assessed for cataract status. After multivariate adjustment, women in the highest quartile of total carbohydrate intake had a significantly greater risk of having pure cortical cataract. The association was similar, although not as strong, between nuclear cataract and dietary glycemic index. Researchers concluded managing carb intake could prolong the health of the eye lens; however, further study is warranted.
