Age-related macular degeneration is a medical condition that causes irreversible blurring of the central vision in people over age 60.
The elderly at the early stage of age-related macular degeneration are asymptomatic. However, some patients may experience symptoms of slightly blurred central vision. Most cases of the early stage of AMD were diagnosed during routine eye health examinations.
Over time, age-related macular degeneration may affect the vision including the reading as the blurred area increases in size.
Age-related macular degeneration has been found to induce irreversible blindness and visual impairment, according to epidemiological studies.
According to statistics, approximately 11 million people in the US have some form of age-related macular degeneration. The risk of getting advanced age-related macular degeneration increases from 2% for those ages 50-59 to nearly 30% for those over the age of 75.
Age-related macular degeneration can be classified into 2 types
* The common AMD is the dry form caused by the gradual degeneration of the central retinal tissues, affecting 90% of patients with AMD. Some patients with the dry form of AMD have been found to develop into the wet form over time.
* The wet form of AMD is caused by the breaking of the capillary under the macula, accounting for only 10% of AMD.
Bilberry is a species of low-growing shrubs in the genus Vaccinium, belonging to the family Ericaceae, native to Northern Europe.
The plant berry has been used as herbs in traditional medicine for the treatment of acute and chronic diarrhea, gastritis, gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer, enterocolitis, ulcerative colitis, anemia, cystitis, kidney disease, psoriasis, diabetes, etc.
In the urgency to find a natural compound for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration found in a large number of elderly, researchers evaluated the efficacy of a drug containing lutein 6 mg, zeaxanthin 0.5 mg, vitamin C 60 mg, vitamin E 7 mg, vitamin A 1.5 mg, vitamin B2 1.2 mg, rutin 25 mg, zinc 5 mg, Selenium 25 mcg, and bilberry extract 60 mg with Ginkgo biloba leaf extract 60 mg on the retina in type 2 diabetes patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and those with combined fundus pathology (DR plus age-related macular degeneration (AMD))
The study included 180 patients (180 eyes) with type 2 diabetes divided into 6 groups of 30 each. DR was graded according to E. Kohner and M. Porta classification, AMD--AREDS classification.
group 1 consisted of patients with DRO,; group 2--DR1 without DM, group 3--DR1 with DM, group 4--DRO and "dry" AMD (AREDS 1-3), group 5--DR1 with no DM but with AMD (AREDS 1-3), and group 6--DR1 with DM and AMD (AREDS 1-3).
Treatment with antioxidant and radioprotective agents has been proven effective in type 2 diabetes patients with preclinical (DRO) and early (DR1) diabetic retinopathy and those with DR and "dry" AMD (AREDS 1-3) in terms of functional and morphological parameters of the retina.
However, a combined antioxidant and double-dose angioprotective (240 mg) therapy appeared to be the most effective compared to those of single treatment.
Furthermore, in the investigation of bilberry's flavonoids, the potent antioxidants, scavenge free radicals for the treatment of multiple age-related ocular disorders.
According to the results of from 1.5 to 3-month OXYS rats given control diets or those supplemented with 25% bilberry extract (BE, 20 mg on kg of body weight including 4.5 mg of anthocyanidin) or vitamin E (40 mg/kg) as a drag for comparison, 3 months BE treatment reversed the cataract and macular degeneration and completely prevented impairments in the lenses and retina, compared to no significant effects of vitamin E.
Furthermore, both BE and VE were found to decrease lipid peroxides in the retina and serum of OXYS rats.
Based on the findings, Dr. Fursova AZh, the lead scientist said, "The results suggest that the OXYS rat strain is the useful model for macular degeneration and senile cataract and long-term supplementation with BE is effective in the prevention of macular degeneration and cataract".
Taken together, bilberry-processed abundantly bioactive compound anthocyanoside may be considered a functioning remedy for the prevention and treatment of age-related macular degeneration, pending to the validation of a larger sample size and multicenter human study.
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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All rights reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, Best Beforethe it's news, the karate GB Daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for Shorty Award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.
References
(1) [Results of the use of antioxidant and angioprotective agents in type 2 diabetes patients with diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration].[Article in Russian; Abstract available in Russian from the publisher] by Moshetova LK1, Vorob'eva IV1, Alekseev IB1, Mikhaleva LG. (PubMed)
(2) [Dietary supplementation with bilberry extract prevents macular degeneration and cataracts in senesce-accelerated OXYS rats].[Article in Russian] by Fursova AZh, Gesarevich OG, Gonchar AM, Trofimova NA, Kolosova NG. (PubMed)
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