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Welcome to the Quality Counts. For those health conscious consumers and medical professionals that are looking to purchase nutritional supplements, vitamins, herbs, learning about medications, losing weight, health food, low carbs, high protein nutrition, and exercise, you have come to the right place. Quality Counts serves both the medical practitioner and consumer interested in nutritional therapy and alternative medicine.
Home > Health Conditions > Retinopathy
Retinopathy
Alternative News:
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Statins
may prevent diabetic-related blindness, study suggests - Science Daily,
2/17/11 - "oral treatment with the drug atorvastatin blocked the formation of
free radicals in the retina, which restored proper levels of nerve growth factor
and preserved neurons in the retina. "It removed the break on the pro-form nerve
growth factor to develop into its mature form," she said. The drug was orally
administered to rats in doses proportional to levels given to human patients
with cardiovascular problems ... In a related study, also in the March edition
of the journal Diabetologia, El-Remessy and her colleagues found that
epicathecin, a component of green tea, also prevented the adverse actions of
proNGF in the retina. It does not affect the maturation of proNGF into NGF,
explained El-Remessy, but regulated a receptor downstream that proNGF uses to
send a signal to kill the neuron. Epicathechin prevents the death by inhibiting
that receptor. "We are still getting the same result, that we are preventing
neuronal death and restoring neuronal function, but just in a different way,"" -
See
Jarrow Green Tea
extract at iHerb.
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How
omega 3s help to prevent several forms of blindness - Science Daily,
2/9/11 - "The cost of omega-3 supplementation is
about $10 a month, versus up to $4,000 a month for anti-VEGF therapy ... In
the new study, they document another protective mechanism: a direct effect
on blood vessel growth (angiogenesis) that selectively promotes the growth
of healthy blood vessels and inhibits the growth of abnormal vessels ... In
addition, Smith and colleagues isolated the specific compound from omega-3
fatty acids that has these beneficial effects in mice (a metabolite of the
omega-3 fatty acid DHA, known as 4-HDHA), and the enzyme that produces it
(5-lipoxygenase, or 5-LOX). They showed that COX enzymes are not involved in
omega-3 breakdown, suggesting that aspirin and NSAIDs -- taken by millions
of Americans -- will not interfere with omega-3 benefits ... Finally, the
study demonstrated that 5-LOX acts by activating the PPAR-gamma receptor,
the same receptor targeted by "glitazone" drugs such as Avandia, taken by
patients with type 2 diabetes to increase their sensitivity to insulin.
Since these drugs also increase the risk for heart disease, boosting omega-3
intake through diet or supplements might be a safer way to improve insulin
sensitivity in patients with diabetes or pre-diabetes" - See
Mega Twin EPA at iHerb
and
Jarrow Max DHA at iHerb.
Other News:
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Blood glucose levels that predict 10-year risk of retinopathy identified
- Science Daily, 2/14/11
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Influence of glycosylated hemoglobin on sight-threatening diabetic
retinopathy: A population-based study - Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2011
Feb 3 - "sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy
(STDR) ... A statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was noted in the
duration of diabetes, gender, body mass index, HbA1c, micro- and macro-albuminuria
between both non-STDR and STDR groups as compared to the no-diabetic
retinopathy (DR) group. On multivariate analysis, HbA1c (non-STDR: odd's
ratio OR=1.23; 95% confidence interval CI=1.15-1.32; p<0.0001; STDR: OR=1.31
95% CI=1.14-1.52; p<0.0001) was found to be significantly associated with
non-STDR and STDR when compared with the no-DR group. The Receiver Operating
Characteristic analysis showed that the cut-off value of 8.0 had 75.6%
sensitivity and 58.2% specificity with 64.9% maximum area under the curve
... HbA1c value >8.0% was significantly related with STDR. In a screening
programme, the cut-off value of HbA1c >8.0% provided a maximum yield of
STDR"
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Inhibition of the receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE)
protects pancreatic β-cells - Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2010 Nov 24 -
"Advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) and the
receptor for AGEs (RAGE) have been linked to the pathogenesis of diabetic
complications, such as retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy. AGEs may
induce β-cell dysfunction and apoptosis, another complication of diabetes
... Inhibition of RAGE prevented AGE-induced pancreatic β-cell apoptosis,
but could not restore the function of glucose stimulated insulin secretion
(GSIS) in rat islets. In summary, the results of the present study
demonstrate that AGEs are integrally involved in RAGE-mediated apoptosis and
impaired GSIS dysfunction in pancreatic β-cells. Inhibition of RAGE can
effectively protect β-cells against AGE-induced apoptosis, but can not
reverse islet dysfunction in GSIS"
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More
evidence on benefits of high blood pressure drugs in diabetic eye disease
- Science Daily, 1/18/10
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