This video came from a direct request for this topic from a client (proof that if you ask, I will respond to you in a video as soon as I can;) If you have a history of eye disease, and specifically retinal disease in your family, than this is exciting new information you need to know! My specialty is MindBody Medicine and Integrative Medicine, but I’m also really excited when I hear of new medical advancement that demonstrates how medical technology is still a huge asset to our health, and without modern medicine, we wouldn’t have some of the amazing therapies we can now take advantage of!:)
Video Transcript
New Advances in Eye Health Stem cells to treat retinal disease: There is a huge amount of promising new research in teh field of stem cells to treat problems in the retina, the back part of our eye and in animal models, damaged retinas in eyes of mice have been successfully restored back to normal by transplanting healthy stem cells into the diseaesd eye. Stem cells are cells that have not yet differentiated, like early in our development in the womb. However, there are other sources of stem cells besides embryo, or fetal stem cells, that we can get from healthy adult brain tissue, for example, so there are other alternatives than using embryos as a source of these healing cells. The stem cell eye transplants have not been tried yet in humans, but researches in the field are confidient that this will be happening in the near future, so stayed tuned!
One antioxidant that has been proven to reduce the risk of macular degeneration is Lutein. If you have a family history of eye problems in older relatives, especially macular degeneration or other problems with the part of the eye called the retina, you should take a lutein supplement daily, starting in your 30’s to keep you eyes healthy for decades to come!
You should take 6mg-10mg/ day of luetin to prevent cataracts and macular degeneration in a supplement, or you can eat loads of lutein-rich foods like deep green veggies each day–the highest lutein veggies are kale and spinach. There is 44 mg of lutein per cup of cooked kale, 26 mg/cup of cooked spinach, and 3 mg/cup of broccoli.