Red Wine, Blueberries, Peanuts, and Grape Juice Can Give You Vision
We have all seen in the movies how the Native Peoples in North America would go out into the wilderness, go through certain rituals and have visions.
Well, the type of vision I’m talking about here is your eye-sight! No hallucinogenic visions.
No not that kind of visions. In breaking news from the health community and specifically from Washington University in St. Louis in a media release of June 25, 2010. You can Read the full announcement here if you don’t believe me.
Resveratrol Stops Out-of-Control Eye Damaging Blood Vessel Growth in the Eye
Resveratrol is found in red wine, grapes, blueberries, peanuts and other plants. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis through experiments have discovered resveratrol stops out-of-control damaging blood vessel growth in the eye.
This is why it is important to people prone to blinding eye diseases like diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration (AMD)…
From Medscape “angiogenesis, is the underlying pathology in wet AMD (as well as in proliferative diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity [ROP], and ischemic retinal vein occlusions).”
Or to make it easier to understand… the National Institute of Health says “Abnormal blood vessel growth, also known as angiogenesis, is a hallmark of advanced AMD. These faulty blood vessels leak serum and blood, damaging the macula and causing catastrophic central vision loss. NIH-sponsored laboratory research has established that a protein known as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) spurs the development of abnormal blood vessels.”
Or so folks like you and me can understand… (and for us non-scientific people who do not understand ten dollar words I looked up angiogenesis at Medterms.com In plain simple English they Medterms.com defines angiogenesis as “The process of developing new blood vessels.”)
As AMD advances the victim’s eyes start to develop uncontrolled blood vessel growth in their eyes. These blood vessels then start to leak fluids into the eyes preventing central vision. So the victim can not see details when they look at something.
Regarding Diabetic Retinopathy
The New England Journal of Medicine says “Visual loss primarily occurs from either proliferation of new retinal vessels (proliferative diabetic retinopathy) or increased permeability of retinal vessels… Pathologic growth of new blood vessels is a common final pathway in ocular neovascular diseases, such as proliferative diabetic retinopathy, that often result in catastrophic loss of vision.”
Putting this in easier to understand language from a study “Diabetic Retinopathy and Angiogenesis.” Crawford TN, Alfaro DV 3rd, Kerrison JB, Jablon EP. Charleston Neuroscience Institute, Retina Division, Charleston, SC…
“Two major retinal problems cause most of the diabetes-related vision loss: diabetic macular edema and complications from abnormal retinal blood vessel growth, angiogenesis. Secondary to angiogenesis, increased retinal blood flow is of pathogenic importance in the progression of diabetic retinopathy.”
A Startling Vision
Conducting experiments in mouse retinas, the researchers found resveratrol can inhibit angiogenesis
Washington University retina specialist Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD, the study’s senior investigator is quoted as saying ”A great deal of research has identified resveratrol as an anti-aging compound, and given our interest in age-related eye disease, we wanted to find out whether there was a link. There were reports on resveratrol“s effects on blood vessels in other parts of the body, but there was no evidence that it had any effects within the eye.”
Apte’s team found that when the mice were given resveratrol, the abnormal blood vessels began to disappear!
Apte said “We have identified a novel pathway that could become a new target for therapies… And we believe the pathway may be involved both in age-related eye disease and in other diseases where angiogenesis plays a destructive role.”
Will One Glass Of Wine Do It?
Apte, an assistant professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences and of developmental biology, said because resveratrol is given orally, patients may prefer it to many current treatments for retinal disease. This is because the current treatments involve eye injections.
The mice in the study received large resveratrol doses. Way more than you would get in one single glass of wine, or even a bottle… even more than in several bottles of red wine. So there has to be a different way to get the resveratrol in the amount necessary to be effective. This means, if resveratrol therapy is tried in people with eye disease, it would need to be given in pill form because of the high doses required.
The Compound “Resveratrol” is Easily Absorbed in the Body.
In mice, resveratrol was effective both at preventing new blood vessels and at eliminating abnormal blood vessels that already had begun to develop.
Apte said “This could potentially be a preventive therapy in high-risk patients… And because it worked on existing, abnormal blood vessels in the animals, it may be a therapy that can be started after angiogenesis already is causing damage.”
That is more Exciting News. As reported in the post How You Can Preserve Your Eyesight Starting Today! eating spinach, among other vegetables and fruits can possibly reverse AMD, Cataracts, and Diabetic Retinopathy.
And now based on this research… today we have another new weapon!
Resveratrol Treatment May Be Useful In Three Major Diseases Causing Blindness Today
Age-related macular degeneration because it involves the development of abnormal blood vessels beneath the center of the retina. AMD is the cause of over 40 percent of all blindness among the elderly in nursing homes today. Now, as us baby boomers and younger generations get older, the problem is expected to grow… skyrocket actually. It is estimated a minimum of 8 million (8,000,000) cases predicted by the year 2020 in the USA alone!
Do you want to be a victim of AMD blindness? I sure don’t. I think I will talk with the product development people here at Smarter Health Corporation to see if we can get a really effective supplement with Lutein and Resveratrol developed. Even if I am the only person taking it!
The second disease…
Diabetic Retinopathy Blood vessels don’t develop beneath the retina like they do in healthy eyes. Rather, they grow into the retina itself. Diabetic retinopathy causes vision loss in about 20 percent of patients with diabetes. Today that would be almost 24 million people have diabetes in the United States alone! Yes, 24 million people in the USA with diabetes. And 20% of 24,000,000 = 4,800,000. FOUR MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED needlessly blind people in the USA from Diabetic Retinopathy alone.
The Third Disease
Retinopathy of Prematurity This happens when premature babies with immature retinas experience an obstruction in blood flow into the retina. When that happens, those children often develop abnormal blood vessels. Those abnormal blood vessels can cause retinal detachment and interfere with vision. Retinopathy of Prematurity blinds 50,000 newborn babies around the world each year.
So let’s make a pledge… right here… right now… let’s eat more foods that contain both Lutein and Resveratrol. Further, if and when Smarter Health Corporation come out with an effective combination of Lutein and Resveratrol… let’s get some and take it every day to supplement our diets. Keep and protect our normal vision.
I have visions of blindness from disease being eradicated around the world. Everyone should experience the beauty and colors of the world. Everyone should experience looking at and seeing the features and details in a loved one’s face. Vision needs to be protected. And now it can simply by watching what we eat, and eating the right stuff.
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