Archive for November, 2011
Buyer Beware! Supplements might not contain full ingredients listed on label!
11.28.2011In my nearly 53 years, I’ve grown particularly less trusting during the last few. I keep hoping that companies do the right thing, but it seems as often as not, when money is on the line, they might not.
A case in point is vitamins and nutritional supplements. They’re out of purview of the governmental agencies. So much so, in fact, that supplements are required to put a disclaimer on every bottle specifically stating that the FDA has had no role in evaluating the bottle’s contents.
And wouldn’t you know that some vitamin manufacturers claim a bounty of premium eye vitamin ingredients, including both Lutein and Zeaxanthin, while putting less of the stuff in the bottle than is listed on the label. In some cases, less than 1% of what is claimed!
The story is preposterous. But it’s true.
I first got wind of the issue from my role as an Industry Advisory Panelist for the Ocular Nutrition Society. A couple months ago, ONS members received notification that a specific manufacturer was putting nearly zero Lutein and Zeaxanthin in its formulas, while marketing it to the public and doctors as having absurdly high concentrations of these substances. Worse, ONS said that there was little that they could do to protect the “good guys” such as VisiVite from the scoundrels who stole advertising space and naively spent consumer dollars.
But today, I received a recommendation to visit the site, eyevitaminlab.org, which lists 7 out of 11 samples as falling below stated label claims.
If VisiVite was listed, I knew it was a given that we were going to be in good shape. And we were, along with 3 others.
But many others were rated “Not Recommended,” based upon inflated Lutein and Zeaxanthin claims. Two manufacturers were listed as having less than 1% of claimed Lutein!
The Ocular Nutrition Society reached a dead end pursuing this with the FDA, which is overwhelmed with prescription drug issues, and doesn’t allot enough resources to track down these reports. And in the end, ONS didn’t have the dollars to fight the battle on its own.
This issue not only casts a black eye on the entire nutritional supplement industry. It’s also terribly deceitful of consumers.
What an “eye opener” !
–
Paul Krawitz, M.D., President and Founder
VisiVite.Com
Controversial Study Result: An aspirin a day linked to wet macular degeneration
11.20.2011
A recent European study reveals that seniors who are on a daily aspirin regimen are twice as likely to develop wet macular degeneration compared to people who never take aspirin. Researchers emphasize that the data doesn’t show that vision loss is caused by aspirin but that it does cause concern that aspirin might aggravate the eye disorder.
Researchers collected personal information about health and lifestyle from almost 4,700 people over the age of 65. What they found is that almost four of every 100 daily aspirin users had wet macular degeneration. Only two out of every 100 people who took aspirin less frequently had wet macular degeneration.
Larger studies that follow people over a period of time and document their aspirin use and vision will help to determine the role that aspirin plays in macular degeneration. Meanwhile, researchers stress that it’s a good idea to caution people that aspirin might exacerbate macular degeneration, but that the benefits of taking the aspirin outweigh any risks to their vision.
In addition, the association may not be causal. People with high cholesterol and heart disease, which is associated with macular degeneration, are the very same people who have been instructed by their doctors to take aspirin.*
Kids glued to TV develop blurred vision
11.16.2011
Is your child or grandchild glued to the TV, Internet or video game? Here’s yet another reason to break that habit.
A recent vision health study indicates that the rates of nearsightedness (myopia) in children are linked to time spent outdoors. The cases of myopia have become increasingly common in the United States and a correlation has been found between the amount of time that children are exposed to natural light and focusing on distant objects.
Since the 1970′s, the incidence of myopia in the United States and other countries has risen dramatically with more than 80 percent of the population in Asian countries being nearsighted. Researchers at the University of Cambridge conducted the study and determined that the chance of myopia dropped by two percent for each additional hour spent outside each week. Children in the study with normal or farsighted vision spent 3.7 more hours each week outdoors than the nearsighted children.*
Elise Ervin
Staff Writer
Walk or run today. Your vision depends on it.
11.13.2011
The October issue of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science details the results of a study which indicates that being physically active helps to protect eyes from glaucoma. Glaucoma occurs when fluid pressure inside the eye rises and damages the optic nerve and is a leading cause of blindness.
Researchers documented the relationship between physical activity and eye pressure in 5,650 men and women between the ages of 48 and 90 in Great Britain. The participants were evaluated from 1993 and 1997 and then again between 2006 and 2010. Participants provided researchers details about their work and leisure time physical activity and based upon these details the participants were categorized as inactive, moderately inactive, moderately active or active. In addition, their eye pressure was monitored throughout the years they were involved in the study.
Results showed that moderate physical activity was linked with a 25 percent reduced risk of low ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) which is a significant risk factor for glaucoma. While researchers are uncertain as to the cause of the link between OPP and cardiovascular fitness, they believe the study shows that maintaining an active lifestyle helps to reduce glaucoma risk.*
Elise Ervin
Staff Writer
Holy Retina, Batman! New implant helps blind to see!
11.10.2011
A child of the 60′s, I grew up with my trusty Argus C3 rangefinder camera slung over my shoulder, shooting pals taking layups on driveway basketball courts, as well as artistically capturing the dense autumnal foliage at Letchworth State Park in New York.
But now there’s a new Argus in town. And it may prove to be the tip of the iceberg in helping the blind to see.
The product is the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System, and it was recently implanted in an Italian patient with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), an inherited, blinding eye disease. In short, the system works to bypass the damaged retina via eyeglass sensors working with a retinal implant.
The limitations of prototypical systems such as the Argus II, which might not provide very useful vision, should not be discounted. Similar to the slow and limited computers that filled an entire room no longer holding a candle to an 11″ laptop, these will surely improve with time and further research.*
Paul Krawitz, M.D., President
Vitamin Science, Inc.
