Thread: Oranges improve eye health, research finds

New research has shown oranges may have a big role to play in reducing your chance of macular degeneration.

Apples have long been touted as the fruit 'to keep the doctor away' but now oranges may be muscling up on their
status, as new research has shown regularly eating oranges may significantly help in reducing a person's risk of
macular degeneration.

Macular Degeneration is the name given to a group of retinal eye diseases that cause progressive loss of central vision.

According to the Macular Disease Foundation, it is the leading cause of blindness in Australia and impacts about
one in seven people over the age of 50.

Researchers with the Westmead Institute for Medical Research analysed the diet of 2,000 Australians over the
age of 50 for a 15 years period, focusing on how their diet related to their risk of age-related vision impairment.

While the research looked at the whole diet, it was the consumption of oranges in particular that stood out.


Vitamin C not the hero

Lead researcher Bamini Gopinath, who works at the University of Sydney, said people who ate one to two
servings of oranges a day had a 60 per cent reduced risk of macular degeneration.

Dr Gopinath said what may be surprising to people was that it was not the fruit's Vitamin C content producing
the favourable results, but instead they believe it was flavonoids in the oranges.

"In our analysis we accounted for Vitamin C intake and the association persisted even after we accounted
for that," Dr Gopinath said.
"So we know it's not to do with the Vitamin C in oranges. We can speculate it's likely to be the flavonoids
or it's something else in oranges.
"But because the study is observational it's very difficult to say [what exactly causes it]."


Flavonoids are dietary compounds found in a range of food groups and beverages that have been shown to
reduce inflammation and oxidated stress within the body.