Clear Vision, Sharp Hearing: Sense the Differences :: Food and Nutrition :: Whole Foods

> Food and Nutrition > Whole Foods > fruits

Clear Vision, Sharp Hearing: Sense the Differences
by author Julian Whitaker, MD

Although memory loss heads the list of concerns among aging Canadians, vision and hearing loss are far more likely to afflict us as we get older.

These common changes can impair your ability to drive, read and enjoy simple pleasures. Fortunately, you can do several things to preserve your eyesight and hearing.

UV Rays = Vision Loss

The single greatest contributor to vision loss is free radical damage, which accumulates in the eyes due to a lifetime of exposure to damaging ultraviolet (UV) radiation in sunlight.

Plants, which have even greater UV exposure, have built-in protection against free radicals: carotenoids. These phytonutrients, found in brightly coloured vegetables and fruits, also nourish and protect your eyes. The most important carotenoids for the eyes are beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, which absorb harmful radiation, helping prevent macular thinning and degeneration. Research shows that simply eating leafy greens and other foods rich in these protective nutrients can stave off vision loss.

Supplements are a Must

Nutritional supplements offer significant protection against age-related vision problems. In the 2001 Age-Related Eye Disease Study in Archives of Opthamology, supplementation with zinc, vitamins C and E, and beta-carotene reduced the risk of macular degeneration in high-risk patients by 20 percent compared to placebo. Long-term supplementation with vitamin C cut the risk of cataracts by 77 percent in one large 1997 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study, while bilberry, which improves nighttime vision, slows the progression of cataracts in 97 percent of patients when used in combination with vitamin E.

Loud Noise = Hearing Loss

Though hearing loss may not spell an end to independence, it can dramatically reduce quality of life. The primary cause of age-related hearing loss is damage to the hair cells in the inner ear that transmit sounds to the brain. Noise literally blows these delicate hair cells away. Any condition that impairs blood flow, such as atherosclerosis, high blood pressure or diabetes, contributes to hair cell damage; however, the chief culprit is exposure to loud noise.

Any sound level over 85 decibels may cause hearing damage. (City traffic measures 80 decibels, a lawnmower 90 decibels, and a power saw 110 decibels, a level that can cause permanent hearing loss after just two minutes of exposure). Use earplugs whenever you are exposed to loud noise. If you use a portable radio or CD player with earphones, always play it at half volume or lower.

Nutritional Deficiencies can Impair Hearing

A 1998 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that women over age 60 with hearing loss had 38 per cent lower levels of vitamin B₁₂ and 31 percent lower levels of folate than women with normal hearing. Vitamin D deficiencies also produce hearing loss that can be reversed by supplementation with this nutrient.

Other nutrients may also prove helpful for age-related hearing loss, particularly for those with poor circulation. Both ginkgo biloba and vinpocetine enhance blood flow through the tiniest capillaries, helping transport nutrients to the fragile hair cells.

Daily Supplements for Eye Health

beta-carotene and other carotenoids: 15,000 IU
bilberry: 320 mg
selenium: 200 mcg
vitamin A: 5,000 IU
vitamin C: 2,500 mg
vitamin E: 800 IU
zinc: 30 mg

A longtime advocate of healthy living, Julian Whitaker, MD, is the founder of the Whitaker Wellness Institute Medical Clinic in Newport Beach, Calif., and editor of the monthly newsletter, Health and Healing.

Source: alive #247, May 2003

Special Advertising Feature

The Collagen Connection - Special Advertising Feature provided by Naka
How can we ensure that our vital collagen is plentiful and remains strong as we age to support joint and skin health?

Looking, Feeling and Performing Your Best
Do you remember how you felt when you were really young? The reason everything seemed to work so well back then was because your body invested a lot of time and energy on repairs. It was as if you had a full-time mechanic on the premises.

Ear, Nose And Throat Connection
Your ears, nose and throat are not only in close proximity to each other. They are, in fact, intimately connected. When things are going well, this trio elicits no complaint.

Eye-Opening Homeopathic Solutions
Our poor eyes! They suffer more and more abuses from the effects of modern living. Many of us spend much of our time focusing on computer screens and paper work.

Get Physical With Blended Drinks
Getting old does not necessarily mean getting sick. Obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure are not a function of chronological age. In fact they have more to do with lifestyle than genes--although both play a role..

Three Steps for Lifelong Health
Exercise, a whole foods diet and supplements are what you need to avoid spending your retirement in the doctor's office. They say there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes.

Ankylosing Spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis is an illness that took my whole lifetime to mature and five years to battle into submission. The symptoms and causes, like almost all so-called incurable diseases, piled up, stone upon stone, beginning to create my tombstone.

Lasting Longevity
Until recently, most people believed growing old and dying was unavoidable. However, it now appears the assumption many of us held as children, that "I will never grow old and die," was not quite as absurd as our parents thought. Different cultures have varied definitions of aging.

Age-Less Exercise
If there is an anti-aging pill, it has to be exercise--age-less exercise. Proper exercise has been shown to slow aging through reduced cholesterol, high blood pressure, stress levels, insulin levels and osteoporosis risk..

Unveil Your Eyes' Full Potential
There's a simple test for your eyesight. It's in the sky. On a clear night, find the constellation of Ursa Major, the Big Dipper or Big Bear.

Age With Vitality
There's truth in the old saw "we dig our graves with our teeth." Heart disease, stroke, many cancers, kidney disease, diabetes and other disorders emerge from the way we live. Particularly what we eat. Nature has genetically programmed humans with a potential 120 years of life, yet most succumb long before..

Age-Defying Exercise
I'm amazed by the number of people who blame genetics for developing disease and disability or for premature death. Natural health supplements can oppose the degradation of lean mass, improve response to exercise and support muscle function, growth and development.

Save Your Sight
Cataracts can be preventedAre cataracts just another consequence of getting old? This may appear to be the case, since they're quite common in older Canadians.

The Browning Effect
Imagine if you will the intricate network that makes up the human body. Think of the organs and tissues, the numerous hormones, neurotransmitters, peptides and amino acid.

A Look at Eye Health
Good eyesight is something that many people take for granted. It is not until problems develop that we tend to worry about our vision. In Canada, visual impairment affects nine percent of the population aged 65 and over, or one in 11 seniors. By 2011, it is estimated that five million people will be affected..

Longevity
Probably no one understands baby boomers as well as David Foo.

Aging, Longevity and Anti-Aging Medicine
How many times have you heard someone make a birthday toast with the wish, "Live long and prosper?" You've probably thought of this as nothing more than a good-humoured gesture.

Celebrate Life
"Life is a great adventure, or it is nothing."--Helen Keller "One of the wonderful things about being alive is that it is never too late.

Herbs for Longevity
We're all aging all the time. As we grow older, our metabolism--the body's chemical and physical changes from producing energy from food and oxygen in cells--becomes less efficient.

Successful Aging
Life expectancy has increased dramatically over the past century, from 47 years in 1900 to approaching 80 years today.

Anti-Aging: Immortality or Bunk?
The concept of anti-aging is cropping up all over the place. Popular books, high-profile doctors and purveyors of drugs and nutritional supplements all claim to have the inside track on anti-aging. But what does it really mean? To kick off this new column, let's take a look at what anti-aging is-and isn't..

How is Your Mental Muscle?
Certain conditions also greatly accelerate this aging, while hyperten.

Diet, Exercise And Supplements Help Keep Your Heart Young
In most industrialized countries, the incidence of cardiovascular disease goes up with age. Canada is no exeption-heart disease is the number-one cause of death in this country. However, this may have more to do with lifestyle factors such as diet, inactivity and stress than with aging.

Preventing Medication Mishaps in Seniors
People are living longer than ever before. For example, a Canadian born in 1960 can expect to live 20 years longer than one who was born in 1900.

See Into the Future
Lifestyle and nutrition factors are associated with the most common degenerative eye conditions. Understanding the causes can help protect your sight.

Movement
If we could bottle the benefits of physical exercise, we would have one of the most powerful anti-aging remedies known. Physical activity rejuvenates virtually every organ in your body, adding energy to your days and years to your life.

How to Slow Cellular Aging-Fast!
Did you know your body's cells host visitors from another time and place? The mitochondria, energy-producing factories in every one of your cells, are descendants of independent, free-living organisms. Mitochondria have unique DNA, separate and distinct from cellular DNA.

A New Look at Eye Disease
Eye disease may be a form of mini-death, telling you about a deeper, more spiritually guided form of seeing.

Foods for Longevity
Eating a nutritious diet high in raw organic produce, whole grains, and clean water can slow the aging process and fight degenerative disease. Here we show how to combine foods to create a diet that targets the body systems most susceptible to aging and disease-reproductive, circulatory, musculo-skeletal, and digestive.

Muscle Mass Mastery
If we're not careful, by retirement, we could lose one-third to one-half of our muscle tissue. This debilitating condition, called sarcopenia, is now considered one of the top biomarkers of aging: its specific physical traits are used to measure the progress of aging.

Spring Into Your Autumn Years
People with a positive attitude toward aging can adjust very well when individual circumstances change. Their positive outlook allows them to adapt to the inevitable physical and biochemical changes of the body that are associated with the natural processes of aging. With a healthy outlook on the golden years, even unpredictable setbacks and disabilities can be managed successfully.

Not Now, Grim Reaper ... Another Time, Perhaps
Woody Allen said, "I'm not afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens.

Thanks to tremendous gains in life expectancy - at an all-time high average of 79.

Practice Mental Calisthenics
I asked my friend Dennis why he's so optimistic about life and physically active at age 79. He regularly walks, hikes, exercises, and swim.

Middle Ear Infections
Recently my daughter went to a birthday party in an aquatic centre. I noticed one sad little girl sitting on the pool's edge and asked her why she wasn't swimming. She said she wasn't allowed in the water because of her ear tubes.

The Fountain of Youth
The fountain of youth is at our fingertips. Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants, little free-radical scavengers that just may be our fountain of youth. Antioxidants exert many positive effects on the body.

Clear Vision, Sharp Hearing: Sense the Differences
Although memory loss heads the list of concerns among agingCanadians, vision and hearing loss are far more likely to afflict us as weget older.These common changes can impair your ability to drive, read and enjoy simplepleasures. Fortunately, you can do several things to preserve your eyesightand hearing..

Metabolic Aging
Everybody wants to live a long and healthy life. If you carry excess body fat on your frame, though, you may be setting yourself up for a shorter lifespan than the one you were aiming for.

Forever Young
All of us want to have longer and healthier lives, and while some of us are dealt a better hand than others in life's genetic lottery, there are many ways we can maximize the potential we are born with.

Integrative Medicine
Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Andrew Weil, a pioneer and world-renowned leader in the field of integrative medicine. After teaching and writing about natural and preventive medicine for over 35 years, Dr. Weil provides a unique approach to health care, which encompasses body, mind, and spirit.

Does Obesity Really Affect How We Age?
As we age, we tend to notice a loss of muscle mass, strength, bone mass, and energy potential. Meanwhile, body fat increases, skin wrinkles, mood changes occur, and immunity declines. New scientific research is shedding light on why we age and how we may be able to slow the process.

Taking Care Of Your Eyes

Age Gracefully in the Garden of Eden

One Century and Counting
On August 14, alongside a room full of friends at the Azure nightclub in Vancouver, Doug McIntyre marked his centurion year with dancing, cake, and a heartfelt speech.

Antiaging or Healthy Aging?
With the growing number of baby boomers entering their golden years, interest in antiaging is at an all-time high. Although we may not be able to stop the aging process, healthy aging can help minimize the effects of time by optimizing our health along the way.

Move It or Lose It
Aging is inevitable. It is possible, however, to curb many of the effects of aging with regular physical activity. We all want to maintain quality of life and good health as we age, and exercise is essential to maintaining good health. The less we move, the more susceptible we are to various conditions and diseases, and thus the vicious cycle of inactivity begins.

A Fine Balance
There are signs not a result of normal aging that indicate an elderly person may be experiencing problems with drugs or alcohol. Such signs can include loss of appetite, confusion, anxiety, falling, sleepiness, sadness, irritability, unexplained chronic pain, and bruises.

Supplementing the 50+
While entering the realm of seniorhood, our risk of many age-related health problems, such as macular degeneration, osteoarthritis, and mental deterioration increases. Here are several supplements that nutritional scientists are advising we include in our daily health programs to enhance the quality and quantity of our elder years.

Supplements Counter Rash
Dr Leyton:I was diagnosed three years ago with an eyelid condition called blepharitis, related to seborrheoic rosacea, and would like your help in curing this stubborn condition.

Forever strong

Add longer walks to your exercise routine

Mid-life mindsavers

Realistic relationships

Hysterical medicine

Is your home safe?

Counteracting cataracts

Mercury and autism

Exercise and Youth

Gym Safety Tip for Senior Citizens

Healthy Aging

How Do You Get to Work?

Change is Good

Move Your Mood

Active Healing

Teenage Irony

Live Leaner, Live Longer?

Avoid the Surgeon's Knife
Lattes in hand, my friend Natalie and I were at an urban coffee bar catching up. A pretty woman in her thirties with two kids and a flashy but stressful job, Natalie confessed she felt saggy and tired and was longing to regain her youthful spark.

Turn It Down!
How many times have you come home from a rock concert with your ears ringing and your head throbbing, barely able to hear because of the blaring music? Overloud MP3 players can cause the same problems.

Iridology
Do you see eye to eye with your doctor? If he or she practises iridology, you may.

Healthy at 100
If you're reading this magazine, you're already on a path to better health. Sometimes, by reminding ourselves of where we've come from, we realize just how much progress we've made.

Slow Down and Just Smell the Coffee
The majority of people today unwittingly exacerbate their stress response by consuming too many caffeinated beverages-especially coffee.

Fabulous Over 50
Earlier this year, the Toronto Star ran an article about the perfect baby boomer couple who lives such a well-balanced life, complete with daily urine dehydration checks, that you're awed - until you get to the end of the article and discover the kicker: the whole story's a joke.

Super Vision
All of our senses are essential for experiencing our physical reality. Vision, however, is perhaps the most precious sense of all, allowing us to see and navigate the world around us.

As Young as You Feel?
Sometimes it's easy to forget I'm getting older. I look in the mirror and there I am, same as always. I mention something about my teenager and people say that they can't believe I'm old enough to be the mother of a 13-year-old.

Building a Health Reserve
Hoping to be a healthy elder? Then stock your health bank as faithfully as your financial one. Healthy aging requires preparation. This month's Research Watch discusses what you need to know to build up your health reserves for a long and healthy life.

Elder Care in Canada
The lobby at the New Vista Care Home in Burnaby, British Columbia, is alive with chatter and laughter. A comfortable lounge area invites visitors to sit, but I wait my turn by checking out the sign that spells out the home's mission.

The Sandwich Generation
When Naz Deravian became a mom for the first time, she found herself embracing her new baby girl, Luna, and her new role, with utter joy. But the 36-year-old actor was also worried about her own mom, who at the time was undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Eat Well-Age Well
Getting older isn't what it used to be. Seniors are staying active well into their golden years, people are retiring later, and 60 is the new 40. The latest generation of retirees is more active and health-conscious-and living the motto "a rolling stone gathers no moss.

Healthy Aging
Eat less, exercise more, get enough sleep, and avoid stress. Even after all this advice, our arsenal against aging isn't necessarily complete without longevity-boosting nutritional supplements.

Seniors on the Go
A couple of noon hours a week, George Martin can be found at a downtown Vancouver fitness class, balancing on top of a big, bright stability ball or doing multiple sets of bicep curls with heavy weights. At 78 Martin keeps up with the best of them.

Long Live Healthy Aging
Read the news, though, and instead of a positive spin on longevity you might catch yet another tale about how the aging of the baby boomers is doing nothing but straining publicly funded services.