Carbohydrate nutrition and cataract

Abstract

Studies suggest dietary carbohydrates play a role in cataractogenesis. Objective: examine the cross‐sectional associations between total carbohydrate intake, dietary glycemic index and the risk for cortical and nuclear cataract.1609 eligible non‐diabetic participants in the Melbourne Visual Impairment Project were used. Dietary information derived from a food frequency questionnaire and cataract status graded by the Wilmer protocol were collected. Using generalized estimating approach to logistic regression to account for the lack of independence between two eyes of an individual, we examined the associations between dietary carbohydrate and risk for cataract for eyes with no or a single type(pure) of cataract.After multivariate adjustment, pure cortical cataract was significantly associated with total carbohydrate intake (odds ratio comparing the highest quartile with the lowest quartile = 3.19, 95% confidence interval 1.10, 9.27; P for trend = 0.017). The OR for nuclear cataract (366 eyes) comparing the third quartile of dGI with the first quartile, but there was not a consistent dose‐response association.Carbohydrate intake may be optimized to prolong eye lens function