If you suffer from a common eye problem, but do not have diabetes, watch out! Its very possible you are on your way to becoming diabetic. Retinopathy is an eye disease many diabetics suffer from. But a new study shows that the eye disease now develops before diabetes. That means its an accurate predictor of future diabetes.
Richard Hamman, MD of the University of Colorado found that retinopathy is common in patients just before they get diabetes. This is true even when lab markers do not indicate diabetes. The risk was due to impaired glucose tolerance. He also found that high triglycerides were another major risk factor.
And for diabetics, Dr. Hamman found that eye problems can appear far earlier than was previously thought. Just 6-12 months after diabetes onset, almost 13% of his study group had retinopathy.
It makes sense that high triglycerides are a risk factor. Triglycerides are blood fats that elevate when you eat refined carbs. Why? Because your body does not want all the sugar from the carbs in your bloodstream. It converts the excess sugar into fat. High triglycerides are usually a marker that you are eating more starches than your body can safely handle. In my opinion, high triglycerides are a marker of glucose intolerance.
Most people do not realize it, but diabetes is simply a much more severe case of glucose intolerance. So if you have glucose intolerance, you have a mild form of diabetes. And, even worse, you are at a greater risk for retinopathy. So if your eye doctor says you have retinopathy, its time to make big changes in your diet.
By the way, since retinopathy by definition is disease of the small arteries in your eyes, do not think that the problem is limited to just the arteries of your eyes. Its a body-wide problem. After all, diabetes is a major risk factor in heart disease.
Do you have lots of abdominal fat, high triglycerides, high fasting insulin levels, or any degree of glucose intolerance? If so, please do everything you can to reduce your starch intake and eliminate all refined carbs. You could already have eye and artery disease without knowing it.
Ref: Family Practice News 9-1-05; Presentation at the American Diabetes Association in San Diego, 2005.