Save Your Sight!
Page 9
Photosensitizing drugs (including Mellaril, thiazide tranquilizers, tetracycline, sulfa drugs, and diuretics)
Intense sunlight (ultraviolet and blue-violet sun rays bleach night vision chemicals, reducing night vision)
Diets high in unsaturated oils (such as those from corn and safflower)
Diets high in hydrogenated oils (found in chips, cookies, and margarine, for example)
Diets low in the essential fatty acids found in fish and fresh vegetables (Omega-3 and omega-6 fats are necessary for renewal of night vision cells.)
High or low thyroid
Liver or pancreatic disease
While there are no known cures for retinitis pigmentosa, there are many steps those with this disease can take to save their sight. As with any other eye disease, the foundation for better eye health is in our Ten Steps to Restoring Vision and Vitality, found in the first chapter. Get those in place first and then add in the special supplements and therapies we suggest in this chapter for the well-being of your eyes.
Mainstream Treatments for Retinitis Pigmentosa
Unfortunatly, there are no surgeries or drugs to reverse this disease. Cataracts often occur in people with RP, and these can be removed. Scatter laser treatments are sometimes used to bring down swelling of the macula or to seal off new blood vessels that impede vision; this is not a permanent solution, however.
Some exciting work is being done with hyperbaric oxygen treatments, where the RP patient inhales, pressurized oxygen. Several studies have shown that hyperbaric oxygen slows the progression of the disease. You can ask your eye doctor about this, but remember that it’s still in its experimental stages, and unfortunately it’s very expensive.
Prescription magnifiers and low-vision aids, as described in Chapter 15, are helpful in making the most of your visual abilities.
Early detection is important so that those with RP can immediately begin eating foods and using supplements known to slow its progression. See Chapter 11 on prescription drugs and eye disease for details on drugs that cause photosensitivity. These drugs should be avoided. Further research is needed to discover whether these drugs actually cause cases of RP that are not genetic.
Lifestyle Prescription for Retinitis Pigmentosa
Eat plenty of garlic, onions, asparagus, and eggs and supplement vitamins E and C along with alpha lipoic acid and N-acetyl cysteine to raise your glutathione levels.
Eat lutein-rich foods like spinach, kale, collards, and mustard greens. A lutein/zeaxanthin supplement derived from marigold petals is a good idea.
Avoid unsaturated oils.
Incorporate at least twenty minutes of brisk walking into each day’s schedule.
Use stress-reduction techniques to lower elevated levels of adrenal hormones, which can weaken eye capillary walls and lead to swelling and tissue damage.
Alternate consumption of lutein-rich foods with beta-carotene-rich foods. For example: For breakfast, have half a cantaloupe with your oatmeal; at lunch, have a salad of spinach, onions, and tomatoes. Eat small amounts of fat and zinc with your beta-carotene to enhance absorption.
Have cold-water fish such as cod, salmon, or sardines two or three times a week. Walnuts are another good source of omega-3 fatty acids.
Wear wraparound sunglasses to protect your eyes from ultraviolet rays.
Avoid tobacco. Don’t smoke and don’t be around people who smoke.
Avoid alcohol because you need to keep your liver as healthy as possible so it can make plenty of glutathione and supply the eyes with vitamin A.
Avoid drugs that stress the liver, which is almost all prescription drugs. One of the most commonly used over-the-counter drugs that stresses the liver is acetaminophen (Tylenol).
Avoid vitamins containing iron.
Avoid photosensitizing drugs (see Chapter 11).
Avoid refined sugars and refined carbohydrates.
Avoid eye toxins such as monosodium glutamate (MSG) and aspartame (NutraSweet).
Avoid chronic stress; get professional help if you need to.
Daily Supplements for Retinitis Pigmentosa
Vitamin E: as recommended in your multivitamin
Vitamin C and bioflavonoids: 1,000–2,000 mg and 250–400 mg, respectively
Beta-carotene: as recommended in your multivitamin
(Take all of the above antioxidants together, so they can re-energize one another as they work.)
Lutein/zeaxanthin: 6–12 mg, at different times from ingestion of beta-carotene
Zinc: as recommended in your multivitamin
B vitamins: as recommended in your multivitamin
N-acetyl cysteine (NAC): 500 mg, 2–3 times between meals
Quercetin (another bioflavonoid): 500–1,500 mg (This inhibits aldose reductase, a cause of cataracts; RP commonly leads to cataracts.)
Bilberry, grapeseed, and cranberry extracts: (These are other good sources of bioflavonoids, which help vitamin C to strengthen capillaries in the eyes.) Follow directions on the container
Coenzyme Q10: 30–200 mg
Magnesium 300–400 mg, to reduce calcium deposits on the retinas and improve circulation
L-Carnitine: 300–1,500 mg
Cayenne pepper capsules: (These provide a potent stimulant, dilate blood vessels, increase circulation, improve cholesterol ratios, and decrease blood clotting.) Take 1–2 capsules with meals.
Ginkgo biloba: 120–360 mg, to improve circulation
Alpha lipoic acid: 100–300 mg, to keep glutathione levels high
Taurine: 1,000 mg (taken with 800 IU vitamin E, divided into 2 doses) if you have the autosomal dominant form of RP, or if you have Usher’s syndrome.
If you have digestive problems, try supplemental digestive enzymes to maximize absorption of essential fatty acids and vitamin A. We’ll address digestive enzymes in detail in Chapter 9 on digestion.
Those who know early they have RP should start right away with a diet and supplement program to maximize the benefits, even if vision loss hasn’t started.
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IN SHORT…
1. Retinitis pigmentosa is actually a number of different disorders, all of which result in clumping of retinal proteins, loss of side vision, tunnel vision, and eventual blindness. The first symptom is usually night blindness starting in childhood or early adulthood.
2. Although there is currently no cure, those with RP can take control through nutritional and lifestyle changes and use of supplements. The progression of the disease can be slowed significantly with these interventions.
3. A summary of the nutritional “RX” for retinitis pigmentosa can be found in Appendix I at the end of this book.
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9
There Is No Good Nutrition without Good Digestion
Ingrid has been coming to us for eye care since we started our practice here in Los Angeles. Her eyes have always been sharp, and only since she turned sixty-seven last year has she needed glasses for reading. Vitamin supplementation and good food choices have been part of her life for at least ten years, and the benefits are obvious. She’s tall, strong, and vibrant.
At her checkup Ingrid says she’s not feeling as well as usual. Her stomach has been upset, and antacids haven’t helped at all. She often suffers from gas, constipation, and bloating. After meals she has been feeling as if there’s food stuck deep down in her throat. I note in her chart that her retinas don’t look as good as they normally do, and ask Ingrid if she’s been sticking to her regular routine of exercise, diet, sunglasses, and supplements. “Of course,” she replies. “Why? Is something the matter?”
I explain that her retinas are looking a little lackluster and that if everything besides her digestive health is the same, she might consider using some supplements to improve digestion. I caution her against the use of antacids and acid blockers such as Tagamet and Zantac. “Too much acid isn’t your problem. As you age, your stomach produces less and less acid,” I tell her. “That can affect whether the nutrients that
come into your body get absorbed. A lack of stomach acid can cause nutritional deficiencies.”
I send her home with some suggestions: probiotics like Lactobacillus acidophilus to keep her large intestine populated with friendly bacteria, and digestive enzymes to help break down food in her small intestine.
I run into Ingrid at the local health food market about six weeks later. She practically sprints across the produce aisles, her shopping basket overflowing with leafy green stuff. “Those supplements work wonders. I feel so much better and my digestive problems are gone.” I’m continually amazed and gratified at how some basic awareness of the body and a few simple, natural steps can create profoundly positive changes in our health.
The Perils of Poor Digestion
Why a chapter about digestion in a book on eye disease? Well, by now I think you’re beginning to understand how intimately everything is related in your body. If your digestion is poor, you can be eating all the right foods and taking all the right supplements and still not get any of those precious nutrients to your cells.
As you pass your fiftieth birthday, you’re likely to be producing significantly less stomach acid than you did at age twenty-five. According to some estimates, between 24 and 37 percent of adults aged sixty to eighty suffer from lack of digestive acid (also known as atrophic gastritis), but our guess is that it’s much higher. We have found that the majority of our patients over fifty benefit greatly from some hydrochloric acid (HCl) with meals. The acid produced in your stomach is a key player in the thorough breakdown of food. Those who don’t have enough stomach acid often can’t digest fiber-rich whole foods or vitamin pills, and turn to highly processed foods to meet their energy needs. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies often already exist because of a history of poor food choices, and poor digestion compounds the problem.
When you can’t completely digest your food, your body can’t absorb the vitamins it contains. Vitamins are locked into foods, and your body’s digestive system uses hydrochloric acid and enzymes as keys that release them and allow them to be absorbed into the bloodstream. Stomach acid is also responsible for the activation of enzymes needed for digestion as food travels into the small intestine and colon. In older people lowered levels of vitamins B2, B6, and B12, as well as decreased absorption of zinc from vegetable sources, may be in large part due to low stomach acid. Undigested food travels farther along the digestive tract than it’s meant to, and gas and bloating can result.
Enzymes: The Raw and the Cooked
When you take a bite of a mixed meal (containing protein, carbohydrate, and fat), perhaps a turkey burger on a whole grain bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, and avocado slices, digestion begins in your mouth. An enzyme secreted by your salivary glands called salivary amylase starts breaking down the carbohydrates in the food. Your tongue and teeth work together to mix food with saliva. The grinding and crushing actions of your teeth also prepare food for absorption through the membranes of the small intestine. In addition to the enzymes your body makes to break food down into usable parts, fresh whole foods themselves contain enzymes that help your body to digest them. Cooking at above 118 degrees Fahrenheit wet heat, as in boiling, or 150 degrees Fahrenheit dry heat, as in baking, denatures or kills enzymes. They are defunct, unable to do their work. You can see right away that if you eat nothing but cooked food, you won’t ever get the help of the enzymes contained in raw foods.
Enzymes are proteins that are integral to nearly every biochemical process in the body. In order for them to be active, they need plenty of vitamins and minerals, which act as coenzymes, important parts of enzyme machinery. Some minerals are part of enzyme complexes, and if there is a deficiency, then a shortage of that enzyme can result. (Yet another good reason to eat well and take your supplements!) Over five thousand enzymes are known to exist in living creatures. They have a variety of functions, including metabolism, elimination of toxins, and digestion.
It’s said by some experts that if your body has to do all the work of enzyme-making, without help from those present in food, it eventually will become exhausted, and enzyme production will fall. Without proper amounts of enzymes, some of the food you eat can remain undigested and cause you problems such as food allergy (if large food particles leak into the circulation) or formation of too much gas in the large intestine (caused by friendly bacteria gorging on undigested food).
Let’s get back to your mouth. It’s happily chewing the bite it just took. Thorough chewing is important to good digestion. Not only does it break food down mechanically and enzymatically; it also sends a message to the salivary glands, stomach, liver, and pancreas to get started with their secretions. Take your time at meals and take small bites. If you tend to have problems with intestinal gas, eat slowly and chew each bite fully so you’ll swallow less air with your food.
Many older people have tooth and gum problems that make it hard to chew fresh, raw foods. Living on tapioca pudding isn’t the answer. If you use a blender and a juicer in food preparation, you can enjoy fresh fruit and vegetable juices, and you can puree cooked beans and vegetables to make nourishing soups.
Modern juicers allow you to include the fiber-rich pulp in the juice.
Supplemental coenzyme Q10 can help improve the health of painful gum tissue. If you do have to cook your vegetables or make soups to ease chewing, be sure to supplement with digestive enzymes (see page 143).
The Real Reason for Heartburn
The esophagus has smooth muscle in its walls that contracts to help transport your bite of food to the stomach. Whatever enzyme activity has been preserved works towards partial digestion of the food in the upper part of the stomach. Food’s natural enzyme activity gives the stomach a break, loosening some of the bonds that must be broken before nutrients can be accessed by the body.
Hydrochloric acid and a protein-digesting enzyme precursor (pepsinogen) are released from specialized cells in the stomach lining into the stomach. Pepsinogen is transformed to pepsin, the protein-digesting enzyme, when exposed to stomach acid. Hormones are also released into the stomach at this point. They respond to what foods you have eaten and regulate accordingly how fast the stomach empties into the small intestine. Digestion of fats takes much longer, so a fatty meal will stay in your belly for quite a while. Protein takes a little less time, and carbohydrates are digested most quickly. Secretion of other enzymes farther along the digestive tract also is dictated by these hormones.
Stomach acid is highly concentrated, designed to break down food so that enzymes can act on it efficiently in the small intestine. Even before food hits your stomach, the smell and taste of it sets your salivary glands and acid-producing glands to work. Stomach acid is essential for efficient digestion, and yet it gets unfairly blamed for causing heartburn, ulcer, and other kinds of gastrointestinal upset.
More than half of people over forty have heart-burn at least once a month. Heartburn occurs when food mixed with acid leaks up into your esophagus, causing feelings of a lump in the throat, chest pain, or burning in the stomach. Recently, acid-reducing medications like Zantac, Tagamet, and Pepcid became available over-the-counter for relief of heartburn. Antacids like Turns, Rolaids, and Mylanta have been the traditional pharmacological remedies for heartburn, also called gastroesophageal reflux. These drugs block stomach acid, and I believe they contribute to malnutrition in older people. They are the last thing most people need for heartburn.
Contrary to what the companies that make these drugs would like you to believe, it’s the rare case of heartburn that’s caused by overproduction of stomach acid. In many cases, it’s a lack of stomach acid that’s to blame. As you get older and your stomach acid production falls, food sits in your stomach for longer and longer periods during the digestion process, increasing the chance of it being burped back up. Your esophagus doesn’t have a thick mucous lining to protect it like the stomach does, so even the smallest bit of acid causes burning.
A weakened sphincter muscle between the stomach and the esoph
agus can also contribute to discomfort. Drugs (including calcium channel blockers prescribed for heart pain, nicotine, and beta-blockers often prescribed for high blood pressure) can cause this muscle to relax when it shouldn’t. High levels of stress, obesity, and old age can have the same effect. Over time, repeated bouts of heartburn can loosen the sphincter muscle permanently.
How can you prevent heartburn? Here are some pointers:
Follow the Ten Steps presented in Chapter 1, and avoid fried foods or excessive amounts of fatty foods. Fat in the stomach sends out hormonal messengers that cause the stomach to empty more slowly.
Don’t eat a lot at a sitting. Snacks are actually a good idea. It’s best not to be famished when you sit down to eat.
Lose excess weight.
Don’t eat on the run or right before or after exercise. If you’re stressed, blood flow and energy are being shunted away from the gastrointestinal system. This can decrease acid production. Make mealtimes into little oases of peace in your day.
Drink alcohol in moderation, never more than two drinks a day.
Here’s a tough one: Cut way down on chocolate, which can be very aggravating to some heartburn sufferers.
Don’t lie down right after a meal.
Work towards reducing the number of prescription and over-the-counter drugs you are taking.
Reduce stress by exercising or taking classes in meditation, yoga, qi gong, or Tai Chi. A hot bath also can help you control a “stomach-clutching” response to stress.
Natural Remedies for Heartburn
If you do have an attack of heartburn, try natural remedies before reaching for antacids. A glass of room-temperature water; the juice of raw cabbage or potato; aloe vera; herbal teas such as fenugreek, slippery elm, comfrey, licorice, and meadowsweet (no lemon, lukewarm); fresh papaya; or fresh banana are all recommended by Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D., a well-known expert on natural alternatives to prescription drugs.