January 21, 2018 Eyesight Problems Aren’t Caused by Aging with Dr Sears

It is all about sunshine and that is a problem that is difficult to resolve with our modern world.  We really need to rethink just how we work with sunshine.

That it is the cause of vision problems is actually shocking.

We also need to understand the blue light phenomena and just how real it might be.  It may well be specific wavelengths that need address.
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Eyesight Problems Aren’t Caused by Aging!

Al Sears, MD

11905 Southern Blvd.
Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411

January 21, 2018

How the “Tribe of Ageless Eyes” found deep in the Amazon rainforest holds the secret to regaining your youthful, crystal clear vision right now and keeping it for life.

https://marketing.alsearsmd.com/acton/media/28028/nutravision

Reader,

Everything you’ve ever heard about vision loss and aging is wrong.
 
Eyesight problems — contrary to common belief — aren’t a normal part of aging at all.
 
In fact, the secret to having youthful “eagle” eyes for life is something so simple you can do it yourself right now without a prescription.

I recently discovered the shocking truth about vision problems and aging.

It was hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador… in a hunter-gatherer tribe whose eyesight never changes with age.

Even the oldest Kawymeno Waorani tribe members still have the youthful, sharp vision they had when they were born.

They don’t wear eyeglasses or need them — not even reading glasses.




The Waorani tribe members guided me through one of the most remote parts of the Amazon rainforest.

Every member of the tribe can see details in the distance and close up. They can easily see even in on the darkest nights. And they aren’t blinded by the bright glare of the full midday sun.

They never have any disabling age-related vision loss common in of today’s modern world.

I wondered — how are they different?

Is their youthful vision due to living in that part of the Amazon rainforest? Or could it be their genetics?

I soon found key facts that proved it was NOT genetics or the rainforest.

A neighboring tribe — the Kichwa — lives in the same area of the rainforest. They also share a similar genetic background.

But the Kichwa have the same vision problems we have.

They need eyeglasses.

They too have trouble seeing close up, at night and in bright glare conditions as they grow older.

And they suffer from age-related vision loss like anyone else in the Western world.

So what’s so different about the “Tribe of Ageless Eyes”?

The answer turned out to be basic… yet tragically overlooked until now…

Today, almost 300 million people suffer from vision loss. This is the most common as we grow older. And loss of vision can be disabling, costing you your freedom and independence.

The secret to their ageless eyes is a particular group of phytonutrients.

The “Tribe of Ageless Eyes” consumes 20 TIMES the amount of these phytonutrients than the neighboring farming tribe consumes!1
And the difference is even more dramatic when compared to the average American’s nutrient-poor diet…

Now I’m going to show you how you too can have ageless “eagle” eyes by harnessing the power of these vision miracles…

Phytonutrients are vision miracles that go far beyond vitamins and minerals.

There are more than 25,000 of these powerful healing chemicals. And they’re created only by plants.

These substances protect the plant from damage caused by bacteria and other threats.

They are easily recognized. Phytonutrients give plants their color — making a tomato red, a blueberry blue and an eggplant purple.

When you eat phytonutrients, they become biologically active in your body as the most potent antioxidants found in nature.

These vision miracles increase blood flow to your eyes, relaxing the muscles in your eyes and repairing and protecting your lens and retina.

With these special nutrients as the building blocks, the very foundation of your vision can be rapidly rebuilt.

They also work like shields for your delicate eyes, protecting them from within.

They eliminate the free radicals, toxins and radiation damage that are one of the root causes of vision problems as you age.

And it turns out having enough of them, and the right kind of them, is the key to regaining and keeping perfect vision for life.

First, let’s talk about the differences you’ll see in your vision in only a few short weeks…

Every week I see patients at my clinic in Royal Palm Beach, Florida.

Before I made this discovery, I saw how difficult vision loss was for my aging patients every day.

First, you’re holding books and menus farther away so you can read them.

Next thing you know you’re forced to use reading glasses or bifocals. Then other parts of your vision start to fail too…

Your night vision begins to suffer. A long day leaves you with tired eyes. Bright glare from sunlight or oncoming car headlights blind you.

You can’t see detail, color or contrast the way you used to.

You need a flashlight to read a menu in a dim restaurant.

Well, I couldn’t accept that was “normal”. So I did my research.

It turns out the scientific evidence is overwhelming…

The shocking truth is that your age-related vision problems are NOT normal.

And writing them off is a big mistake. ANY vision problems pose a health risk.

According to a study published in Ophthalmic Epidemiology, people over the age of 65 with age-related vision problems are twice as likely to have poor health. And your chances of being in poor health shoot even higher if you become blind.²

So by keeping your vision sharp, you improve your overall health.

The great news is it’s entirely possible to regain your youthful vision… and keep it into your 70s, 80s, 90s and beyond…

Now you can enjoy clearer, sharper vision with the help of these vision miracles.

 

Imagine watching the sunset and seeing every shade of glorious color. Feeling confident driving at night. Looking at photos of your grandchildren or your wedding day and seeing every detail.

Imagine never having a problem keeping your eye on the ball when watching a football or basketball game…

Crystal clear vision while doing close stitch work or tying a fish fly…

And easily reading the menu in a dim restaurant without reading glasses!

Finally, it’s all possible. So you can enjoy the best of life. And maintain your independence and vitality at any age.

So the question is: why doesn’t the "Tribe of Ageless Eyes" have any vision loss? Why is the most common vision problem today, myopia, practically nonexistent in this tribe?

And, most important, is it really possible to protect your eyes?

The answer? Absolutely.

I’m going to tell you exactly how to do it.

And the reasons why the tribe is free of vision problems are about to become very clear to you.

The first step is to find out why we have vision problems in the first place… and what you need to do to stop these damaging forces and reverse eyesight loss right now…

This remarkable tribe’s ageless vision isn’t due to genetic luck.

In fact, when it comes to the eyes you’re born with, there’s no difference between you and any member of their tribe.

Research into this tribe has uncovered a startling fact… lifelong sharp vision is your birthright.

You should never experience any eyesight problems at all. Just like the Waorani tribe members never do.

So why are vision problems rampant today?

Scientific studies are now revealing the truth. The cause of vision loss isn’t age.

The reason for eyesight problems is the modern world we live in today.

If you lived as our primal ancestors lived, you would have perfect vision. Everyone did. It was the only way we could hunt for food and survive.

I’ve visited many native tribes in remote villages around the world. Very few of the tribe members had vision problems.

But once these tribes were exposed to our modern world, their eyesight problems mirrored ours.

Myopia is a common vision problem today. Also known as nearsightedness, myopia is a distortion in the growth of the eye. People with myopia can easily see things close up but have trouble seeing in the distance. As a result, they are prescribed glasses or contacts to correct the problem.

A study of Inuit people living in the northern tip of Alaska showed that only 2 out of the 131 tribe members had myopia. When their children and grandchildren started living as we do today, the rates of myopia shot up to more than 50%!³

What changed for these children? It’s something so simple we take it for granted: sunlight.

Research has shown that myopia isn’t due to burying your face in a book or spending hours on a computer after all. One study tracked the activities of more than 500 eight and nine-year-olds with healthy eyesight for 5 years. The children most likely to develop myopia were the ones who spent the least time outdoors.⁴

Countless other studies have proven the same, including a study of 4,000 children in Australia that directly linked lack of sunlight exposure to increased risk of myopia.⁵

Today’s rates of myopia are skyrocketing as we spend more time indoors.

According to Nature the rates of myopia in the Western world have doubled in the last century and affect half of the population today.⁶

But in the East, the effects are even more staggering. Only 10% - 20% of the Chinese population had myopia 60 years ago. Now 90% of young people have myopia.

Today in Seoul, a whopping 96.5% of 19-year-old men need glasses for myopia.

All due to a lack of sunlight.

That’s because sunlight triggers the release of dopamine in the retina. This helps control the growth and development of the eye.

When we don’t get enough dopamine, excessive growth stretches the eye lengthwise and distorts long distance vision.

That’s why I recommend that my patients get plenty of natural sunlight.

But the damaging effects of our modern lifestyle don’t stop there. I’ve identified 3 modern vision stealers that are causing today’s age-related eyesight problems:

• Blue light from your computer, smartphone, TV and more
• The typical American diet
• Our increasingly toxic world

Luckily, when you “feed” your aging eyes with the healing power of phytonutrients, you can fight back against all three…

A flood of blue light in today’s world is destroying our eyesight.

And it comes at you from every angle.

When you’re texting friends…

Checking your email…

Watching a YouTube video…

Typing in an address on your GPS…

Working on your computer…

Watching your favorite show on TV…

Even the light bulbs in your house are putting your vision at risk.

Light bulbs? Let me explain…

Our modern LED lights and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) contain high levels of blue light.

CFLs contain 25% of this type of light. LEDs have 35%.

In comparison, an old-fashioned incandescent light bulb emits only a tiny amount of blue light. Instead it contains more of the colors on the long wavelength end of the light spectrum.

This is no small problem. According to an article published in Review of Optometry, by 2020 90% of all light bulbs are projected to be vision-damaging LEDs.⁷

And then there’s the huge amount of time we spend on digital devices, exposing our eyes to blue light.

An article by the Vision Council revealed that nearly 9 out of 10 people now spend more than two hours each day using a digital device like their smartphone.

Even worse, one in 10 of us spend three quarters of their day on digital devices!⁸

So, what is blue light exactly?

Blue light is the portion of the visible light spectrum with the shortest wavelengths. Unlike longer wavelength light, blue light reaches deep into the eye and damages the retina.

Researchers at the Paris Vision Institute studied the effects of different bands of visible light on the eyes. And it was blue light that caused maximum retinal cell death.⁹

This is where these vision miracles can protect you against blue light and help you regain lost vision.

The groundbreaking Blue Light User Exposure (BLUE) study was published in Foods in 2017.¹⁰ This double-blind, placebo-controlled trial studied 48 healthy adults with digital blue-light screen time of at least 6 hours daily.

The subjects took a supplement with two phytonutrients, lutein and zeaxanthin, for 6 months. And the results showed significant improvement in macular pigment density, visual performance and a reduction in eye strain, fatigue and headaches. Even their quality of sleep improved!

By increasing the pigments in your macula, you create a powerful shield for your eyes from the damaging effects of blue light. And at the same time, you build your eyes back up from within and regain your sharp vision.

But there’s another danger to your vision in our modern lives. And it seems so innocent, you probably have no idea how it’s affecting your eyes right now…

Is your morning bowl of cornflakes as innocent as it seems?

No. The truth is it’s actually very dangerous…

I warn my patients about this. The fact is that you’ve been served a plate full of lies.

 


The food industry tells you that processed foods, grains, wheat and bread are “good” for you. And that you should avoid fat like the plague.

That’s just plain wrong.

Science is revealing that the typical American diet is a major cause of age-related vision loss.

A research team at Tufts University found that people who eat foods with a high glycemic index were 40% more likely to experience vision loss. Foods like cornflakes that spike your blood sugar.¹¹

And most high glycemic index foods are processed foods common in our modern diet.

These eyesight destroying foods are everywhere. The bun with your burger. The sugar in your morning coffee. And that bag of chips for your afternoon snack.

When you eat these foods, your insulin levels spike. The Tufts researchers believe that this sugar spike contributes to oxidative stress and inflammation in the retina and the capillaries of the eyes.

Even brief surges in blood sugar may play a role in blood vessel damage. And this leads to vision loss.

So all you have to do is eat a low glycemic diet, right? That’s very important, but too much sugar is just part of today’s vision problems.

The other part is all about getting too little of something…

Your delicate eyes thrive on a high nutrient diet. A diet like the tribe’s, loaded with phytonutrients from fruits and vegetables.

These unique plant chemicals are essential to eagle-eye vision.

But researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently found that only one in 10 Americans eats enough fruits and vegetables.¹² By enough, they mean the current recommendations of 5-9 servings per day.

And that’s where we run into a problem. Even if you eat ONLY the recommended amount, you’re still not getting enough of what you need for great vision.

That’s because today’s farming methods have depleted our soils. So while these foods are still the best way to get the nutrition you need, you’d need to eat more of them.

One study found you’d have to eat eight oranges today to get the same amount of vision-boosting vitamin A as our grandparents would have gotten from just one orange.¹³

The modern world’s combination of too much sugar and too little nutrition is a double-whammy for your eyes.

Consider again the tribe with ageless eyes. They never eat sugar-spiking processed foods. Not even a slice of cake on their birthday.

They also eat a diet rich with phytonutrients. Remember… 20 TIMES that of the neighboring tribe!

	Improved clarity of vision and contrast sensitivity — so you can see every detail of a glorious sunset.
	“Owl Eye” night vision — so you can see more easily in dim conditions and drive at night with confidence.
	Amazing vision protection — so you can fight back and win against the modern causes of age-related vision loss.

	Run errands and get your holiday shopping done in the evening.
	Watch the 4th of July fireworks with your family after the sun sets.
	Stay out for a whole night of fun and dancing.

REFERENCES:

1. London DS. “A phytochemical-rich diet may explain the absence of age-related decline in visual acuity of Amazonian hunter-gatherers in Ecuador.” Nutrition Research. 2015.
2. Jones GC. “Health Risk Profile for Older Adults with Blindness: An Application of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health Framework.” Opthalmic Epidemiol. 2010.
3. Young FA., et al. “The Transmission Of Refractive Errors Within Eskimo Families.” Am. J. Optom. Arch. Am. Acad. Optom. 1969 Sep.
4. Jones LA., et al. “Parental History of Myopia, Sports and Outdoor Activities, and Future Myopia.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2007 Aug.
5.  Rose KA., et al. “Outdoor activity reduces the prevalence of myopia in children.” Ophthalmology. 2008 Aug.
6. Dolgin E. “The Myopia Boom.” Nature. March 18, 2015.
7. “The Lowdown on Blue Light: Good vs. Bad, and Its Connection to AMD.” Review of Optometry. February 2014.
8. “Digital Eye Strain.” The Vision Council. August 22, 2017.
9.  Smick K., et al. “Blue light hazard: New knowledge, new approaches to maintaining ocular health.” Report of a roundtable sponsored by Essilor of America. March 16, 2013.
10.  Stringham JM., et al. “Macular Carotenoid Supplementation Improves Visual Performance, Sleep Quality, and Adverse Physical Symptoms in Those with High Screen Time Exposure.” Foods. 2017.
11.  Chung-Jung C, et al. “Association between dietary glycemic index and AMD.” Am J Clin Nutr. 2007.
12.  Moore L., et al. “Adults Meeting Fruit and Vegetable Intake Recommendations – United States.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. July 10, 2015.
13.   “Dirt Poor: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious?” Scientific American.
14. “Toxic Chemicals.” NRDC. Accessed 8/22/2017.
15.  “Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns.” Environmental Working Group. July 14, 2005.
16.  Bone RA., et al. “Macular pigment response to a supplement containing meso-zeaxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin.” Nutrition & Metabolism. 2007.
17. Nolan JM., et al. “Enrichment of Macular Pigment Enhances Contrast Sensitivity in Subjects Free of Retinal Disease: Central Retinal Enrichment Supplementation Trials — Report 1.” Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. 2016.
18.  Ma L., et al. “Improvement of Retinal Function in Early Age-Related Macular Degeneration After Lutein and Zeaxanthin Supplementation: A Randomized, Double-Masked, Placebo-Controlled Trial.” American Journal of Opthalmology. 2012.
19.  Richer S., et al., “Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of zeaxanthin and visual function in patients with atrophic age-related macular degeneration: The Zeaxanthin and Visual Function Study (ZVF) FDA IND #78, 973.” Optometry. 2011.
20.  “Pigments in colorful vegetables may ward off macular degeneration.” Harvard T.H. Chan. Accessed 8/22/2017.
21.  Richer S., et al. “Double-masked, placebo-controlled, randomized trial of lutein and antioxidant supplementation in the intervention of atrophic age-related macular degeneration: the Veterans LAST study (Lutein Antioxidant Supplementation Trial).” Optometry. 2004.
22.  Nakaishi H, Matsumoto H, Tominaga S, Hirayama M. “Effects of black currant anthocyanoside intake on dark adaptation and VDT work-induced transient refractive alteration in healthy humans.” Alternative Medicine Review. 2000.
23.  Seddon JM., et al. “The use of vitamin supplements and the risk of cataract among US male physicians.” American Journal of Public Health. 1994.
24.  Matsumoto H, Nakamura Y, Tachibanaki S, Kawamura S, Hirayama M. “Stimulatory effect of cyanidin 3-glycosides on the regeneration of rhodopsin.” J Agric Food Chem. 2003.
25.  Quaranta L, Bettelli S, Uva MG, Semeraro F, Turano R, Gandolfo E. “Effect of Ginkgo biloba extract on preexisting visual field damage in normal tension glaucoma.” Ophthalmology. 2003.
26.  Yang P.M., et al. “Lycopene inhibits ICAM-1 expression and NF-κB activation by Nrf2-regulated cell redox state in human retinal pigment epithelial cells.” Life Sciences. 2016.
27.  Stringham JM., et al. “Macular carotenoid supplementation improves disability glare performance and dynamics of photostress recovery.” Eye and Vision. 2016.
28.  Calero C.I., et al. “Allosteric Modulation of Retinal GABA Receptors by Ascorbic Acid,” J. Neurosci. 2011.
29.  “Second National Report on Biochemical Indicators of Diet and Nutrition in the U.S. Population 2012.” Centers for Disease Control. March 2012.
30.  Maron D. “Fact or Fiction?: Carrots Improve Your Vision.” Scientific American June 23, 2014.

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