Ways to prevent or slow cataracts....

Today's Post:  Friday, 8-23-2013

Cataracts can gradually cloud your vision and make the outlines of things less sharp and make it harder to see both ways.  They literally make the lens of your eyes cloudier and cloudier

1.  The bad news is that by the time you read this you may already have small cataracts and slightly compromised vision from previous damage. 

If you spent a lot of time outside in sunny weather from when you were very young as I did,  or if you have been working outside in sunny weather you may have some cataracts or beginnings of them from sun damage.

2.  The much better news is that you can slow or stop them there.

They have 3 causes and each one is mostly preventable.  That’s what’s in this post.

3.  The other good news is that if they get too bad to ignore, the state of the art of replacing your cloudy lens with a clear one is pretty good.

One downside is that this replacement is a bit pricey due to the skill and training needed by the doctor and/ or the cost of the high tech equipment used.

The other is that there is a failure rate. Some people no longer can see out of that eye at all. Mercifully it’s a tiny percentage; but it’s there.

Ways to prevent or slow cataracts:

Cataracts have 3 causes and each one is mostly preventable.

a) Sun damage from excessive exposure to UV light.  (With the reduced ozone layer and global warming, this is getting worse or more likely.)

b) Oxidation and glycation damage.

c) Taking statin drugs.

Here are the preventive steps:

Many of the preventives for the first two things are in yesterday’s post on slowing aging and preventing wrinkled skin.  There are easy ways to get less sun and UV exposure and some nutrients that increase your body’s ability to be exposed to UV rays without damage.  And there are some foods that cause similar damage you can stop or mostly stop eating.  Those are all covered in yesterday’s post.

a) Here are two more ways to limit sun damage:

You can be outside on sunny days at times close to solar noon sometimes with far less damage if you do two things. 

*Always wear a broad brimmed hat when you do so or even when you go outside at any time during daylight.

It’s ideal if the brim is solid and not just a mesh because that blocks the UV rays best. It’s a plus if the hat fits your taste in colors and is a good quality hat that will stand up to such use well.  And, it really helps on all but the coldest days, if the hat has a mesh between the solid top and the solid brim. Those let the heat escape instead of trapping it. So they are much more comfortable to wear and you sweat less.

Want one like that?  They exist.  I have one.  They cost between about $60 and $95.  And you can buy one online at www.headnhome.com .  That’s the best way because you can see all the models and colors and styles. 

Their toll free number is 1-800-642-3428 (800 6423 428 is 800 nice hat!)  And their hats are so good and look so good you literally have people stop you from time to say so and they do often say Nice Hat!

** Wear polarized, high UV protection sunglasses or clip-ons when you go outside.

Polarized, high UV subtracting sunglasses prevent or slow cataracts.

(That one I have no product ideas for since it’s the one thing on this list I haven’t started doing yet.  I do plan to do so however.)

Your eyes get less exposure from UV damage by doing these two things.

b)  Prevent oxidation. 

Eating right and including foods high in antioxidants such as vitamin C, the carotenes we spoke of in yesterday’s post, and natural vitamin E complex all help. 

Taking a small amount of retinol animal based vitamin A, more vitamin C 500 mg to 2500 mg, 200 iu of natural vitamin E, alpha tocopherol, with extra tocopherols, and 200 mcg of selenium each day also help.

But there is an antioxidant supplement that is said to have a kind of antioxidant that is even more preventive of cataracts called astaxanthin.

c) Don’t take statin drugs.  Out of every 100 people who take them for several years, 3% will get cataracts who would not have gotten them otherwise.

If you do take statin drugs, you may be able to prevent that by taking 200 mg a day of the ubiquinol form of CoQ10 since it may be by statins depleting it that they cause cataracts and the ubiquinol form is most potent and is itself a very good antioxidant and taking it may also help prevent cataracts.

But statins have other side effects such 9 of those 100 people taking statins develop type 2 diabetes from doing so.

They prevent less than 2 heart attacks out of that 100 people.

And, there are MUCH better ways to prevent heart disease that are more protective.  You can even lower your LDL cholesterol below 100 by using them.

Stop eating the foods that we list in yesterday’s post that cause glycation and slow aging such as high fructose corn syrup.  Stop eating ANY of the cheap oils that are high in pro-inflammatory omega 6 oils (soy, corn, and canola are the most common).  Stop eating ALL hydrogenated oils.

Every one of those foods is heart attack starter. 

If taking statins is a force 2 protector, never eating those foods is close to a force 40 heart protector!

Completely avoiding tobacco smoke is about a force 50 protector!

Lastly,  taking niacin, insositol hexaniacinate, beta sitosterol, and turmeric all not only lower LDL, they lower the small particle kind that causes heart disease.  I take those and dropped my LDL from 130 to 77. 

Between those things the side effects, including cataracts, of statin drugs are un-necessary for most people to expose themselves to.  Why take this cataract and type 2 diabetes starter when you can get far better heart protection without doing it!?

(The exception is if you are someone who takes the $150 test that shows you are in the minority of people who are far better protected than most people by statins and have been smoking and eating badly for many years and you just had a heart attack you survived.  THOSE people do benefit from taking statin drugs!)