Age related macula degeneration also called ARMD or more commonly AMD, is a loss of vision in the central field of the eye that deals with finer detail. There are a number of contributing factors that lead to damage of the small blood vessels in the back of the eye. One is lack of flexibility of the red blood cells due to lack of gamma linoleic acid, GLA ... you know the stuff found in Evening primrose oil, borage oil, blackcurrent oil. You may even know that its sometimes useful for ameliorating the symptoms of PMT. What you might not know is that most people make their own and this keeps those little red blood cells jolly flexible so they squeeze through the capilliaries and bring oxygen to the cells in the back of the eye.

OK ... some of you probably think avoiding PMT is a matter of going for a drive. Well take care. Out there on the roads there are drivers who didn't keep their red cells jolly flexible and their vision is a bit of a blur. They drive slowly in the middle of the road. Chances are they are fat and balding. Well paunchy to say the least. And even if they don't know it they have had adult onset diabetes for years. Adult onset diabetes is one of the conditions that prevents people from making their own GLA. The red blood cells don't make it through the fine capilliaries anymore ... and the cells die. Tough.

Of course there is more than one way to kill off a capilliary or two. Blue light will do it. Gets them like sunlight gets worms after a down pour has flooded them out of their holes. Happily the eye comes with internal sun block that protects those precious capilliaries. Ever noticed how its blue light that shines through blue glass. Of course you have. Well blue light won't shine through yellow pigments. It makes sense that the protective sunblock in the eyes is yellow. The technical name for "yellow stuff" is lutein. Yellow like corn or the yolk of a decent free range egg.

Remember how grandparents admonished children to eat their greens. Well its pay back time. Time to get the crinklies and crumblies to eat their yellows. Actually eating their greens wouldn't be a bad idea. Spinach salad is about the best source of lutein going. In case you're wondering if I'm colour blind and can't tell yellow from green, the chlorophyll in spinach hides the lutein. Spinach isn't spelt b r o c c o l i by the way. Yellow corn is good and so is ... brace yourself ... a soft boiled egg a day. It's one of those surprise things. Like a little red wine being good for cholesterol. Well, if recent research is anything to go by
"One egg a day improves cholesterol levels." That means it lowers total blood cholesterol levels and increases the amounts of good cholesterol. That might not be true for people who already have too much cholesterol from other sources or have stuffed their liver responses. It does appear to be true for people who have an otherwise healthy diet with lots of vegetables.

Getting rid of some blood cholesterol is in itself beneficial. Those jolly red corpuscles don't have to squeeze quite so hard to deliver oxygen through those precious capilliaries. So that is two good things about having the occasional soft boiled egg. Soft boiled eggs have at least three advantages over hard boiled or fried eggs. Lutein is destroyed by heat. Cooking oxidies cholesterol and its oxidised cholesterol that doesn't play nice. Even hard boiling destroys the lecithin in the egg that's darn useful stuff. And hard boiled eggs are hard on the teeth of the crinklies and crumblies.

 

Just joking.

Any one who needs four good reasons to do something good for themselves is procrastinating.

 

 

Ok ... so here is a fifth for the old fellas.

If you get a large container of Evening Primrose Oil and leave it somewhere conspicuous. Get up early in the morning to have your orange and GLA on an empty stomach. (Its heaps more effective that way) Whistle a happy tune to time your soft boiled egg. Lunch at those trendy cafes where they serve spinach and red currant salad. Well your wife might start to wonder just how armed and dangerous you really are. And that could be a good thing couldn't it.

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