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Researchers have identified risk factors for macular degeneration - a common cause of vision loss in the elderly. People who eat foods like fruit, whole grains, fish and vegetables have a lower risk, they say. About one in ten people over the age of 80 have macular degeneration sufficiently severe that their vision is badly affected. The macula is the part of the retina at the back of your eye which you use for most of your vision. When the macula goes you become functionally blind. No-one's sure what causes macular degeneration but what's been suspected for a long time is that the retina is being damaged by free radicals: by oxygen. And there's evidence that antioxidants can slow the progress of early macular degeneration. Now a study following the health of 8000 middle aged, middle class people in The Netherlands has compared those who'd developed macular degeneration to people who didn't. The people with the eye problem were more likely to be smokers and have high cholesterol. Allowing for that and vitamin supplements people were taking, those eating foods like fruit, whole grains, fish and vegetables - high in antioxidants - had a lower risk of macular degeneration. It's another indication that healthy living may save some people from this disabling condition.
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