14 DAY TRIAL // As if people did not already have enough reasons to worship and bow down to the god that is coffee, a recent investigation has shown that this magical brew can help prevent loss of eyesight by lowering the risk of retinal damage as a result of glaucoma, aging, or diabetes.
In a paper in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the team of researchers that carried out this study explains that the retina is a thin layer of tissue that sits on the inside of the eye.
The specialists further detail that this tissue layer is home to millions of light-sensitive cells that, together with other nerve cells, are in charge of receiving, processing and organizing visual cues.
Given its complexity, it should not come as a surprise that the retina is also quite metabolically active, meaning that it requires lots of oxygen to continue functioning properly, the researchers add.
The trouble is that, precisely because it is this metabolically active, the retina is fairly vulnerable to oxidative stress and free-radical production. In time, this can cause it to experience damage and lead to loss of eyesight.
Science News informs that, after carrying out a series of experiments on laboratory mice, researchers found that a chemical compound that is naturally occurring in coffee has the potential to fight oxidative stress in the retina and thus protect eyesight.
The chemical compound in question is known to the scientific community as chlorogenic acid (CLA, for short), and studies have shown that its concentration in raw coffee is one about 7-9%, the same source details. By comparison, coffee is said to contain just 1% caffeine.
After exposing several rodents to nitric oxide, a compound known to trigger oxidative stress and the production of free radicals, researchers found that mice which had previously been treated with CLA suffered no retinal damage. Mice which were not administered CLA, on the other hand, experienced retinal degeneration.
“Coffee is the most popular drink in the world, and we are understanding what benefit we can get from that,” specialist Chang Y. Lee comments on these findings. “[The study is] important in understanding functional foods, that is, natural foods that provide beneficial health effects,” he adds.
The scientists who worked on this research project wish to carry out further investigations into how coffee consumption influences the health of the retina, and they plan to turn their attention to figuring out how CLA behaves when in the human body.