Dietary sodium and cataracts

A high dietary sodium (salt) diet increases the risk of posterior subcapsular cataracts, according to Australian researchers.

A study of over 2,100 subjects revealed that those with the highest sodium intake were at approximately twice the risk of posterior subcapsular cataracts.

They conclude that a low salt diet may help prevent cataract development in elderly persons (American Journal of Epidemiology 151:524-626, 2000)

Posterior subcapsular cataracts cause the most vision loss of all cataract types.

It has been estimated that 70 percent of women and 60 percent of men over the age of 80 suffer cataracts.

Copyright 2000 Phylis A Austin

Cataracts and low fat diet

A low calorie diet may help prevent the development of cataracts. Allan Tayler, Ph.D., Director of the Laboratory for Nutrition and Cataract Research at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston, put a group of mice on a low calorie diet and compared them to a group on a regular diet. After 14 months nearly all the mice on the regular diet showed some signs of cataract formation, while about one-third of those on the low calorie diet showed no indication of cataracts. (Longevity 1(10)12, July 1989)

Copyright 1989 Phylis A Austin