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Diet, caloric intake effects cataract formation in animal study
Restricting diet and caloric intake retarded the development of cataract in a rat model, according to a study.
Keyang Wang and colleagues at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in New York studied the mechanisms by which dieting retarded age-related degeneration of rat lenses. Caloric restriction slowed protein insolubilization and blunted declines of the total soluble thiols, protein thiols, reduced glutathione and ascorbic acid levels in the lenses of older rats.
The data suggests caloric reduction may retard the degeneration of the lens by attenuating the oxidative stress in the lens, the authors state in Experimental Eye Research. As oxidative stress may play a significant role in human cataract development as well, caloric reduction may also be relevant in humans, the authors suggest.