In addition to all the harm that obesity can do to health, scientists have now discovered that being overweight also affects the eyes. According to research recently published in the journal Science, a high-fat diet disrupts the immune system and can cause blindness.
Even following a change in diet and weight loss, the chance of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is greater, one of the biggest global causes of definitive blindness. The disease affects the central portion of the retina, responsible for seeing details, and affects 196 million people worldwide. People affected by obesity are those who suffer the most risks.
Ophthalmologist Leôncio Queiroz Neto, from the Instituto Penido Burnier de Campinas, in São Paulo, explains that AMD is a neuroinflammatory disease and can be of two types:
- Dry: characterized by the formation in the retina of drusen or fatty deposits that lead to cell death; or
- Moist: characterized by the formation of neovessels in the retina that can leak a liquid or blood, making the vision hazy.
“Other risk factors related to the development of macular degeneration are the habit of smoking, exposure of the eyes to the sun without protection and high blood pressure”, points out the doctor.
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