High insulin levels may cause short sightedness

FYI:
http://www.newscientist.com/ news/news.jsp?id=ns99992120

Shit like this makes me want to go strangle all those proponents of the "high carb, low fat, eat lots of breads, cereals and pasta" "nutrition" (ha-ha) theories that were popular in the late 80's and early 90's. People who still advocate this insanity should be force-fed nothing but white bread and rice cakes until they become obese, diabetic and blind (only joking, sort of).

Page not found or Page moved - June 2001

But thanks anyway; they have a large quantum physics section which I intend to checkout! I love "far out science!"

The link worked OK for me just now. Did you
copy and paste each seprate part of the link into your browser?

Anyway, here is the article:

Short-sightedness may be tied to refined diet
19:00 03 April 02

The food children eat might play as big a role as books and computer screens when it comes to causing short-sightedness.

Diets high in refined starches such as breads and cereals increase insulin levels. This affects the development of the eyeball, making it abnormally long and causing short-sightedness, suggests a team led by Loren Cordain, an evolutionary biologist at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, and Jennie Brand Miller, a nutrition scientist at the University of Sydney.

The theory could help explain the dramatic increase in myopia in developed countries over the past 200 years. It now affects 30 per cent of people of European descent, for example.

"The rate of starch digestion is faster with modern processed breads and cereals," says Brand Miller. In response to this rapid digestion, the pancreas pumps out more insulin. High insulin is known to lead to a fall in levels of insulin-like binding protein-3, the team points out.

That could disturb the delicate choreography that normally coordinates eyeball lengthening and lens growth. And if the eyeball grows too long, the lens can no longer flatten itself enough to focus a sharp image on the retina, they suggest.

"It's a very surprising idea," says James Mertz, a biochemist at the New England College of Optometry in Boston. But it's plausible, says Bill Stell of the University of Calgary in Canada. "It wouldn't surprise me at all. Those of us who work with local growth factors within the eye would have no problem with that - in fact we would expect it."

Metz's institution is now planning studies in animals. But there is already evidence to support the theory. While fewer than one per cent of the Inuit and Pacific islanders had myopia early in the last century, these rates have since skyrocketed to as high as 50 per cent. These "overnight epidemics" have usually been blamed on the increase in reading following the sudden advent of literacy and compulsory schooling in these societies.

But while reading may play a role, it does not explain why the incidence of myopia has remained low in societies that have adopted Western lifestyles but not Western diets, says Cordain.

"In the islands of Vanuatu they have eight hours of compulsory schooling a day," he says, "yet the rate of myopia in these children is only two per cent." The difference is that Vanuatuans eat fish, yam and coconut rather than white bread and cereals.

The theory is also consistent with observations that people are more likely to develop myopia if they are overweight or have adult-onset diabetes, both of which involve elevated insulin levels. The progression of myopia has also been shown to be slower in children whose protein consumption is increased.

Journal reference: Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica (vol 80, p 125)

I think that is a lie.

If high insulin levels were bad for eyesight than ALL PROS would be blind by now.

PROS inject insulin like 20 times per day. Obviously that means high insulin levels for years (since pros have used insulin for quite some time now)…

obviously they arent blind.

Thanks, FREE X! I thought the article made a lot of sense.