Vegetable Oils & Macular Degeneration

Vegetable Oils & Macular Degeneration Eye Condition Linked to Diet
by Anna Coren

http://campaignfortruth.com/Eclub/220704/CTM%20-%20macular%20degeration.htm

Macular degeneration is the most common cause of
blindness in Australia but new research suggests
avoiding vegetable oils could prevent the condition.

It's spreading like a disease - a blindness called
macular degeneration affecting at least 800,000
Australians and costing $1.5 billion per year in
health care.

But with the latest research pointing to vegetable
oils as the main culprit, it's possible we may be able
to fend off this disease by simply changing our diets.

You might not cook with vegetable or canola oil but
take a look at the ingredients in any sauce, dip,
bread, margarine or biscuit - any processed food for
that matter. Vegetable oil is hidden in all of them.

Most of us have been consuming these processed foods
from the time we could walk. Dr Paul Beaumont from the
Macular Degeneration Foundation has been studying the
link.

"[The research] showed that people eating vegetable
oil got the disease twice as commonly as the people
who didn't," Dr Beaumont said.

"Even more convincing was a prospective study where
they looked at patients with the disease and those
eating too much vegetable oil progressed at 3.8 times
the rate of those eating a little vegetable oil. You
look at bread, they make it on margarine, you look at
currants and they've gone and sprayed vegetable oil on
them to stop them from sticking, you go and try and
get tinned fish and they've put it in vegetable oil.
So yes, it's become ubiquitous, it's crept right into
our food chain and you hardly know you're eating it."

Gwen Oliver was diagnosed with macular degeneration
two years ago. She was astonished when Dr Beaumont
told her to steer clear of vegetable oils and only
cook with extra virgin olive oil. "I was surprised
about diet and all the products that we've been eating
in the past," Ms Oliver said. "We've always had it
advertised that vegetable oil was far better for us."

The macular sits at the back of the eye. It's made up
of many different nerve cells. The oils that you eat
become part of your eye but normally they're used and
flushed out.

When you're eating vegetable oils, researchers believe
the eye can't seem to biodegrade the oil and it ends
up blocking the cells and causing macular
degeneration.

"In the 1920s and 30s they started to get big presses
that produced hundreds of tons of vegetable oil," Dr
Beaumont said. "In 1957 margarine outsold butter so
we've had this massive infiltration of our food chain
by vegetable oils." Dr Beaumont says he doesn't
envisage vegetable oil being removed from all foods,
but says there should be a consumer health warning. "I
think we have to have a warning on the packages
similar to a warning of a cigarette package:
'vegetable oil can lead to macular degeneration'," he
said.

The major reason for blindness in Australia 30 years
ago was diabetes and it was rare to find macular
degeneration. Today the condition has overtaken
diabetes five-fold and is now the leading cause of
loss of vision in Australia. Two-thirds of those who
lose their vision are blind due to macular
degeneration.

"I've seen an exponential rise from the early 1970s
through to the 1990s," Dr Beaumont said. "If we look
at Japan 40 years ago the disease was rare, now it's
common. I don't think there's any doubt we have an
epidemic."

Dr Paul Beaumont is horrified at the rate macular
degeneration has multiplied. He's seen a tenfold
increase in the last 30 years. "I think we could halve
the number of people going blind with macular
degeneration if we could change their diet, cut out
the vegetable oil," Dr Beaumont said.

When macular degeneration strikes, patients like Gwen
Oliver are first given laser therapy to help stem the
bleeding. They're also told to look at a chart daily
and if they see any difference in the lines on the
charts -such as a straight line looking bent - it's
back to Dr Beaumont for treatment.

But for Jillian Price, laser therapy didn't work. Her
last chance is a cutting edge treatment called
photodynamic therapy. It doesn't look like much but it
causes plenty to happen inside the body.

"You inject a chemical that slowly accumulates in that
blood vessel and doesn't accumulate in normal
tissues," Dr Beaumont said. "And then you shine a
light on the eye and it selectively activates that
chemical that shuts down the abnormal tissue and
[does] not damage the normal."

For Jillian Price, the disease has disabled her life
as an active woman.

"Two months is very fast to lose so much sight; I've
lost a lot of my independence," Ms Price said. "The
distance, everything is distorted, getting on the
buses, shopping is very hard, I can't read labels any
more. One day I was doing crosswords and the next day
I couldn't."

A specialist told Colin Noble he'd be blind within 18
months. Luckily Colin sought a second opinion and
today he's one of the lucky 10 per cent who regain
vision after having photodynamic therapy.

"Usually the treatment merely stops or slows down the
degeneration. It's a miracle, I'm so grateful for this
man," Mr Noble said. "It's had a big effect on my life
and my family's life … it's allowed me to do so many
things. I can still tie a fish hook, important things
like that … I'm a very lucky bloke."

Dr Beaumont has lobbied the federal Health Department
to help fund this huge
problem, but to date nothing has happened. "I think
they should move fairly urgently," he said. "I don't
think we can afford to delay in informing the public
about something which can be affecting their vision."

The federal Health Department is looking into this
massive problem but wouldn't tell us any more than
that. As for the Australian Food and Grocery Council -
the voice of the food manufacturers who use vegetable
oil - they had nothing to say, except that they were
waiting to hear more evidence linking vegetable oil
and macular degeneration.

"There are hundreds of thousands of Australians
waiting for that advice," Dr Beaumont said. "And I
think the government has to move quickly."

For more information please contact the Macular
Degeneration Foundation on
1800 111 709 or visit www.mdfoundation.com.au