Eating Leafy Greens Prevents Glaucoma

Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is the most common form of glaucoma, and glaucoma is one of the most common causes of blindness. A new study that looked at 104,987 people who were forty or over for an average of sixteen years looked at the role of dietary nitrates in preventing POAG. . . .

The study found that people who got more nitrates in their diet were less likely to get POAG. Those who ate the most nitrates were a full 21% less likely to develop POAG than those who got the least. The people who got the most ate about 240mg a day; the people who got the least got about 80mg a day.

Green leafy vegetables and other vegetables are loaded in nitrates. 56.7% of the nitrates people in this study got came from eating leafy green vegetables. Just eating 1.45 or more servings a day of leafy green vegetables reduced the risk of POAG by 18% compared to people who ate 0.31 servings a day.

This study shows that a simple way to significantly lower your risk of glaucoma is to increase the amount of nitrates you get in your diet, and that one great way to accomplish this goal is by eating more leafy green vegetables.

Other nitrate rich vegetables include beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce, green beans, spinach, parsley, cabbage, collard greens and celery.

JAMA Ophthalmol 2016;134(3):294-303

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