A cup of coffee a day could keep retinal damage away

The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, is the latest to vaunt the merits of coffee.

Coffee lovers, rejoice! While you may have thought a much-needed energy boost was one of the only benefits of your early-morning (or mid-afternoon) caffeine fix, you may be pleased to hear that you are mistaken.

According to food scientists, coffee can also help prevent deteriorating eyesight and possible blindness from retinal degeneration due to glaucoma, ageing and diabetes. Scientists looked at the impact of chlorogenic acid or CLA, a strong antioxidant that has been shown to prevent retinal degeneration in mice.

To conduct their experiment, mice were treated with nitric oxide, which creates oxidative stress and free radicals and leads to retinal degeneration. Those that were pretreated with CLA developed no sign of retinal damage. On average, raw coffee is just 1% caffeine, but it also contains 7 to 9% chlorogenic acid, which is a strong antioxidant that prevents retinal degeneration in mice.

The retina is a thin tissue layer on the inside, back wall of the eye with millions of light-sensitive cells and other nerve cells that receive and organise visual information. It is also one of the most metabolically active tissues, demanding high levels of oxygen and making it prone to oxidative stress. The lack of oxygen and production of free radicals leads to tissue damage and loss of sight. However, it’s not yet known whether or not drinking coffee delivers CLA directly to the retina, researchers stress. Future studies could lead to the development of a special brew customised for retinal support, or CLA delivery via eye drops.

The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, is the latest to vaunt the nutritional merits of coffee, reported Hindustan Times.

Another large scale, US-led study published recently in the journal European Association for the Study of Diabetes found that people who drank three or more cups of coffee a day had the lowest risk of type 2 diabetes, that makes it 37% lower than those who consumed one cup or less per day. Coffee drinking has also been associated with a lower risk of lung, prostrate, breast, pancreatic, colon and stomach cancer. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2014.

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