A different type of beer goggles: How a small tipple can reduce risk of developing eyesight problems in later life
We know what blind drunk is but a wee dram is actually good for your eyesight, scientists say.
Along with physical activity, the odd drink has been linked to a decrease in vision impairment.
Visual impairment is sight loss often caused by eye disease, trauma, or a congenital or degenerative condition that cannot be corrected with glasses or contact lenses.
A little bit of what you fancy does you good and could save your eyesight in later life
It is associated with a poorer quality of life and, when severe, loss of independence.
Due to an ageing population, visual impairment has risen by 70 per cent in America since 2000.
To help determine ways to decrease the growing burden of visual impairment, researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health examined the relationships between the incidence of visual impairment and three modifiable lifestyle behaviours, smoking, drinking alcohol and staying physically active.
The research, published in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, was conducted as part of the Beaver Dam Eye Study, a long-term population-based cohort study from 1988 to 2013 of nearly 5,000 adults aged 43 to 84 years.
The researchers found that over 20 years visual impairment developed in 5.4 per cent of the population and varied based on lifestyle behaviour.
They discovered that in physically active people, defined as regular activity three or more times a week over 20 years, two per cent developed visual impairment compared to 6.7 per cent of sedentary persons.
Even after adjustment for age, these figures show a 58 per cent decrease in the odds of developing visual impairment in those who were physically active compared to those who were sedentary.
And in occasional tipplers, described as those who consume alcohol but reported fewer than one serving in an average week over 20 years, only 4.8 per cent developed the condition compared to 11 per cent for people who hadn't had a drink for at least a year.
Again, after adjustment for age, these figures show a 49 per cent decrease in odds of developing visual impairment in those who were occasional drinkers compared to those who consumed no alcohol.
While the odds were higher in heavy drinkers and smokers compared to people who never drank heavily and never smoked, respectively, the associations were not statistically significant.
However the authors point out that the data does not prove that these lifestyle behaviours are directly responsible for risk or lack of as their findings may be due, in part, to unmeasured factors related to both lifestyle behaviours and development of visual impairment.
Dr Ronald Klein, lead researcher of the study, said: "While age is usually one of the most strongly associated factors for many eye diseases that cause visual impairment, it is a factor we cannot change.
"Lifestyle behaviours like smoking, drinking and physical activity, however, can be altered. So, it's promising, in terms of possible prevention, that these behaviours are associated with developing visual impairment over the long term. However, further research is needed to determine whether modifying these behaviours will in fact lead to a direct reduction in vision loss.”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2662013/A-different-type-beer-goggles-How-small-tipple-reduce-risk-developing-eyesight-problems-later-life.html#ixzz35HVgKVim
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