Jakarta (ANTARA) – Being overweight or obese can be a risk factor for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), causing vision problems, according to a study from the University of Montreal and published in the journal Science.
Through studies involving rats, researchers such as published Medical Daily some time ago found a history of obesity due to a high-fat diet causes changes in immunity that persist even after losing the extra weight and returning to normal metabolism.
Several epigenetic changes exacerbate the inflammatory response to eye injury experimentally induced during experiments in mice.
This led the team to suspect similar changes occurred in humans, which would lead to a predisposition to AMD among obese people.
“We wanted to know why some people with a genetic predisposition develop AMD while others avoid it,” said study leader and professor of ophthalmology Przemyslaw (Mike) Sapieha.
He says their research shows how obesity can alter immune cells and make them damage the eyes, causing vision problems later in life.
AMD is considered the leading cause of permanent blindness worldwide. As of 2020, around 196 million people have been diagnosed with this condition, according to Science Daily.
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Translator: Lia Wanadriani Santosa
Editor: Ida Nurcahyani
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