To Your Health
January, 2022 (Vol. 16, Issue 01) |
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The Eyes Have It
By Editorial Staff
What do they have? A lower risk of macular degeneration, the most common age-related cause of vision loss (and the third leading cause of blindness worldwide). How do they have it? By eating more of this one food.
Let's take a look at what researchers have discovered about goji berries and vision health as we age.
The goji berry, also known as the wolfberry, is a small red fruit with a sweet, yet slightly sour taste. Eating approximately 1 ounce (28 grams; essentially a handful) of dried berries five times a week for 90 days significantly increased what's known as "macular pigment optical density" – a biomarker for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (the higher the density, the better). by comparison, no changes in MPOD were noted when taking a supplement containing lutein and zeaxanthin (healthy carotenoids that accumulate in the macula of the eye).
The study authors make their findings clear in their concluding remarks, published in Nutrients: "Regular intake of goji berries in a healthy middle-aged population increases MPOD [and] may help prevent or delay the development of AMD." If you can't see how important those simple words are when it comes to your eye health, particularly your risk of vision loss attributable to AMD ... well, then perhaps your vision is suffering because you're not eating enough goji berries.
