Glutathione is a substance found in plant and animal tissues that has many functions in a cell. These include activating certain enzymes and destroying toxic chemicals and compounds that contain oxygen. The health food industry promotes oral glutathione as a very efficient antioxidant to be used against a whole range of diseases. (more…)
As patients or relatives and friends of diabetics, we can do the following to help improve the chances against loss of vision due to diabetic retinopathy: (more…)
The Low Vision Enigma
In an extremely colorful and multi-faceted world such as the one we live in, it is an enigma that so many concepts are considered as plainly black and white. One such enigma is the concept that people are thought of as either sighted or blind – with no gray areas in between.
For all intents and purposes, the health delivery system in our country is geared towards treating the sighted or managing the blind. What happens to the significant population of individuals who have neither normal visual function nor are completely unsighted? (more…)
Are you over 60 years of age? Is your vision blurred – your view of the world slowly and steadily getting hazier? Have you been watching less of your favorite TV shows – the images having long ago disintegrated into a vista of colorful blur? Well, then it might be time to learn more about cataracts. (more…)
A cataract is a clouding of the lens, a clear tissue located inside the eye behind the iris, the colored part of the eye. Cataracts can result from many conditions, but the most frequent cause is the natural aging process. Other causes may include eye injury, chronic eye disease, and diabetes. More than half the people over age 65 will have some degree of cataract development.
Several eyedrops are currently being marketed locally as “anti-cataract” medications. These are made by well-known pharmaceutical companies here and abroad. These companies have conducted their own clinical trials to show that their products are “effective” in stemming the development of cataracts. However, there is still no convincing medical or scientific evidence that these drops are effective in controlling cataract progression. Currently, surgery is the only medically accepted and scientifically-proven treatment for cataracts.
Many eye diseases and conditions share common symptoms. Treating yourself for a specific symptom or the wrong illness may delay proper treatment of a more serious eye disease. It is important to have your eye examined by an eye doctor in order to obtain an accurate diagnosis, get proper advice and receive the correct treatment.
Having diabetes puts you at an increased risk for certain eye diseases. Diabetes puts people at risk for cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of blindness. The longer someone has diabetes, the more likely he or she will get diabetic retinopathy. Nearly half of all people with diabetes will develop some degree of diabetic retinopathy during their lifetime. (more…)
On televisions across the globe, soft drink commercials are plainly made to be irresistible. Yes, it is refreshing. Yes, it is thirst-quenching. Yes, it is tempting! What makes these television ads more inviting is that they don’t discriminate. Everyone is welcome to grab a can — whatever the gender, status, or age. Even children are encouraged to drink soft drinks, anytime, anywhere. (more…)
For people with diabetes, checking blood sugar everyday is important. It is part of the routine they must do to keep their diabetes under control. And because it is routinely done, checking their blood sugar becomes automatic. Sometimes, diabetics get so used to the idea that they are not bothered by the regular needle pricks at all. But for some, they get tired of the daily process and lose interest in doing it altogether. And before they know it, the worst happens, and complications set in.
Having diabetes means serious lifestyle changes. It entails saying goodbye to eating too much sweets and drinking with the gang every weekend, and saying hello to meeting your doctor regularly, checking your blood sugar level, and perhaps, regular insulin injections. For some, these changes and adjustments may come easy, but it may be grueling and excruciatingly difficult for others. (more…)
