Excerpt from the book Keep Your Vision: Defeating Macular Degeneration

Chapter 5: Recommendations for Macular Degeneration

1. Eat at least one serving every day of a dark green leafy vegetable such as spinach, kale, or collard greens.

Presently available data indicate that this likely is the single most important thing one can do to prevent or treat macular degeneration. These vegetables supply a high amount of lutein and zeaxanthin, the yellow carotenoid pigments absolutely necessary for the health of the macula. People who eat one of these vegetables each day simply do not get macular degeneration to any great extent.

If you are one who abhors the thought of eating greens every day, a tablet of pure spinach powder called Ocuwel is available which provides the equivalent of a serving of spinach in its recommended daily dose (see Appendix A).

 
2. Eat a serving of bilberries or blueberries every day.

Bilberries are especially high in total antioxidative activity followed by blueberries. Since fresh bilberries are difficult to find in this country, one may have to settle for fresh or frozen blueberries which are available in almost any supermarket. Since oxidative damage is a major contributing factor to the development of macular degeneration, eating bilberries or blueberries with their very high antioxidant activities is a safe and delicious way to possibly decrease ones risk of getting this disease. If you do not like bilberries or blueberries, you can purchase a bilberry extract at your local health food store. However, eating the whole fruit is far more delicious, and it may contain other beneficial substances which may not be present in the extract.

 
3. Eat a total of at least five servings per day of vegetables or fruits with a high total antioxidant activity.

Choose such fruits and vegetables from those listed in Tables 5 and 8. By eating vegetables and fruits high in antioxidant activity one can actually increase the total antioxidant activity of the blood. Consumption of such foods likely will have benefits far beyond the potential beneficial effect on macular degeneration.

 
4. Take antioxidant supplements.

Take a supplement of 400 IU per day of all natural vitamin E consisting of mixed tocopherols and a supplement of 500 mg per day of vitamin C. At the very least these supplements help older people live longer.

From the standpoint of contributing to good health, a yeast selenium supplement of 200 mcg per day is advisable since such a supplement has been demonstrated to reduce deaths from cancer by 50%.

A lutein and a beta-carotene supplement may also be advisable.

 
5. Get an adequate zinc intake of 15 mg per day.

This amount of zinc is readily supplied by any good multi-vitamin mineral daily vitamin tablet.

 
6. Eat taurine rich foods.

Dietary taurine can only be obtained from animal derived foods. The best sources are chicken legs, scallops, and clams. If you are a vegetarian the only alternative is a taurine supplement.

 
7. Stop smoking.

 
8. If you drink, limit alcoholic beverage intake to red wines.

 
9. Drink red or purple grape juice or dealcoholized red wine every day.

Again, these juices are very high in antioxidant activity.

 
10. Do not take Ginkgo biloba extract.

Although Ginkgo biloba extract is an excellent antioxidant, its consumption carries a very small risk of subarachnoid hemorrhage in the brain, a usually lethal condition. It is doubtful whether any potential benefit outweighs such dire risk, no matter how small.