14 DAY TRIAL // Obese people should be aware of the fact that extra body weight makes them twice more likely to lose eyesight, according to a recent study carried out by scientists at the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) Scotland. Besides the other severe conditions usually associated with obesity, such as high blood pressure, high levels of bad cholesterol in the bloodstream, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke etc., sight loss risk is double in people with BMI (body mass index) higher than 30.
Developing age-related macular degeneration condition is the main cause of sight loss and blindness in the UK. Experts warned yesterday that obese people should not only be concerned about heart and vascular disorders brought about by exceeding body weight, but they should also be more preoccupied about the condition of their eye vision.
"Most people wrongly assume that if they don't have any obvious problems with their sight, that everything must be fine. With the huge increase in obesity that we have seen in recent years, many people are now jeopardising their sight in later life," warned John Legg, director of RNIB Scotland.
Obese people are 10 times more prone to developing diabetes, this is a commonly known fact. But individuals with BMIs higher than 30 do not realize the fact that diabetes increases the risk of losing eyesight by 60%. Therefore, the range of health disorders in people with extra body weight is extremely wide and if a condition is not directly caused by obesity, it may be caused by another obesity-related condition. It is a never-ending chain of health problems and the best solution to solve them all is to have a healthy lifestyle and diet.
Scientists at the RNIB Scotland informed that obese people are two times more likely to develop dry age-related macular degeneration and they also have an increased risk of developing wet age-related macular degeneration. But the most exposed to sight loss are obese people who also have a genetic predisposition to age-related macular degeneration. These individuals are 11 times more prone to losing their eye-vision by developing age related macular-degeneration or cataracts.