- Nov 2020
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www.brightfocus.org www.brightfocus.org
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If the light is not quite so bright, chronic exposure over days to weeks can cause permanent damage. This is thought to be due to what is called photo-oxidative damage
Just as one would expect, it appears that antioxidants can protect against this type of damage. Note that the study was in rats, but we have every reason to think it would work in humans. In particular, several studies showing that dietary antioxidants protect skin from sunlight in humans; it's should be essentially the same thing for the eyes.
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www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
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Rosemary enhanced the protective efficacy of AREDS and led to the greatest effect on the retinal genome in animals reared in high environmental light. Chronic administration of rosemary antioxidants may be a useful adjunct to the therapeutic benefit of AREDS in slowing disease progression in AMD.
This is not in the least surprising. Dietary antioxidants also protect the skin during sunlight exposure.
Oxidative stress likely also plays a role in diabetic retinopathy. It plays a role in the aging process itself. That said, there is probably a limit to protective powers of antioxidants. Nonetheless, I don't think that that limit has ever been realized in any population. I doubt we've even come close in rats.
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