A study has revealed that high consumption of white rice, pasta and bread and basically all foods that have a high-glycemic index, could increase the chances of developing age-related macular degeneration also known as AMD.
However, you must know that the same does not hold true for whole wheat versions of rice, pasta and bread, which are considered higher quality carbohydrates as they are associated with a slower rise and fall of blood sugar. They also have a low-glycemic index.
AMD is the leading cause of central vision loss in the US.
Allen Taylor, PhD, director of the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University, and colleagues said that AMD link and vision loss may be connected to the quality of carbohydrates an individual consumes.
‘Men and women who consumed diets with a higher glycemic index than average for their gender and age-group were at greater risk of developing advanced AMD. The severity of AMD increased with increasing dietary glycemic index,’ said Taylor said.
‘Our results build upon findings from an earlier, smaller study in which we determined that consuming a diet with a high glycemic index, but not one with a high total amount of carbohydrate, increased the risk of developing early AMD,’ said first author Chung-Jung Chiu, DDS, PhD, scientist in the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the HNRCA and an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine.
‘It is possible that the type of damage produced by poor quality carbohydrates on eye tissue is similar in both diabetic eye disease and AMD.’