Spinach, Eggs Fight Blindness

Nutrients help ward off age-related vision loss
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 11, 2007 3:55 PM CDT
Spinach, Eggs Fight Blindness
Steve Rispoli, supervisor of produce at Whole Foods Market in Middletown, N.J., arranges bagged produce, including fresh spinach, at the supermarket in this Jan. 31, 2007 file photo. The E. coli-contaminated fresh spinach recalled in Sept. 2006 was processed and packaged by Natural Selection Foods...   (Associated Press)

Nutrients found in spinach and eggs help stave off age-related blindness, a new study shows. Macular degeneration, the most common cause of vision loss in the elderly, was 35% less likely to develop in people who consumed the most eggs, spinach, and other leafy greens, which are rich in lutein and zeaxanthin, Reuters reports.

The study looked at the eating habits of over 4,500 people aged 60 to 80. It doesn't conclusively prove that the nutrients prevent the condition, but the two nutrients were the only ones that had a measurable effect on the development of blindness. Age-related macular degeneration, which affects the center of the field of vision, afflicts some 1.2 million Americans. (More spinach stories.)

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