Mediterranean Diet Cut Risk of Late-stage Macular Degeneration in New Study
Researchers investigating large population studies found that in people who ate a particular combination of foods, AMD was 40% less likely to progress to its advanced stage.
In two large studies, one of them covering a period of 21 years, some 5,000 older Dutch and French adults filled in multiple questionnaires to report on their eating habits. After analyzing the data from those studies, European researchers recently found that the participants who closely followed a Mediterranean diet were 41 percent less likely to develop advanced Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) compared with those who did not follow the diet.
The Mediterranean diet is rich in fruits, vegetables and fish, legumes such as chickpeas or white beans, whole grains and olive oil. Meat and dairy are only a small part of the diet. Not surprisingly, the Mediterranean diet has a similar mix of nutrients to the diet typically recommended for people who have AMD. (Click here to read about the AMD Diet.)
Rather than any one of these foods, researchers believe the benefits derive from the combination—and the very moderate amount of cholesterol-boosting meat and dairy that people who follow the diet eat.
The Mediterranean diet has also been credited with helping to prevent heart disease and cognitive decline as we age.