Kids Don't Need Glasses

[Guest guest]

Kids Don't Need Glasses

http://mercola.com/blog/2004/jun/24/kids_dont_need_glasses

 

Researchers examined the records of more than 100,000 preschoolers who were

screened through a state wide program in Tennessee and found that up to 20

percent of children with normal eyes who undergo comprehensive vision exams

may be prescribed glasses they don't need. Some health professionals were

more likely to misdiagnose kids than others. Optometrists prescribed

glasses 35 percent of the time; general ophthalmologists 12 percent; and

pediatric ophthalmologists only 2 percent.

 

So one of the keys here is to never put your child on glasses if he has

only been seen by an optometrist. Go the extra step and have your child

examined by a pediatric ophthalmologist as there is a 1700 percent less

likelihood that he or she will be prescribed glasses.

 

But if you really want to avoid glasses then PLEASE read the article I

posted two years ago by Dr. Cordain.[see below] The reason nearly all

children require glasses for vision correction is because they are

consuming far too many sugars and grains. This elevated level of insulin

from consuming an excess of grains and sugars increases free insulin like

growth factor (IGF-1), which then accelerate scleral tissue growth during

critical developmental stages thus leading to near sightedness.

 

The picture on the left is a classic example of why kids need glasses, they

are consuming juices and soda instead of pure clean water. One of the most

powerful proactive steps any parent can take to prevent their child from

needing glasses is to make certain they only drink pure water and eliminate

all juices and soda.

 

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Study: Not all kids with glasses need them

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-06-23-eyeglass-usat_x.htm

Posted 6/23/2004 9:05 PM

 

By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY

 

A study out today finds that up to 20% of children with normal eyes who

undergo comprehensive vision exams may be prescribed glasses they don't need.

In an article published online in the Journal of the American Association

of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, researchers examined the records

of more than 100,000 preschoolers who were screened through a statwide

program in Tennessee.

 

More than 3,600 children were referred to specialists for follow-ups

because of suspected disorders, such as lazy eye, according to the study.

About one-quarter, or 890, were found to have no eye problems. Yet nearly

one in five of these children were prescribed glasses.

 

Some health professionals were more likely to misdiagnose kids than others,

said Sean Donahue, lead study author and an associate professor of

ophthalmology, pediatrics and neurology at Vanderbilt University School of

Medicine. Optometrists prescribed glasses 35% of the time; general

ophthalmologists, 12%; and pediatric ophthalmologists, 2%, shows the study.

 

To Donahue, that suggests that optometrists and ophthalmologists who

usually treat adults may not have as much expertise with children. Many

youngsters are slightly farsighted, he said, although most will grow out of

the condition without glasses.

 

While many doctors recommend that preschoolers should be screened for

vision problems, experts disagree about the best approach. Kentucky

requires that youngsters undergo comprehensive eye exams before beginning

school.

 

Donahue said states should think carefully about such expenses before

following Kentucky's example. Given the high level of misdiagnoses, Donahue

said, such laws could be expensive. Glasses cost about $150; exams add

another $100.

 

Instead of forcing all preschoolers to get a formal exam, he said, kids

could be screened by doctors, teachers, nurses or others, then referred to

eye specialists for further examination.

 

Susan Taub, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Northwestern

University, said she is concerned that many children suffer from

undiagnosed eye disorders, which can cause permanent damage or hurt their

ability to learn.

 

Doctors still do not know which tests or technology work best, Taub said.

" This does need further study, " she said. " We don't want kids to fall

through the cracks. "

 

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Near-Sightedness Appears Linked to Excess Sugar in Diet

http://www.mercola.com/2002/apr/17/near-sightedness.htm

 

Myopia or near-sightedness is extremely prevalent. It affects more than 25

- 35% of European descent populations and up to 50% or more of Asian

descent populations.

 

If we did not have compensatory mechanisms for myopia and were left to mere

Paleolithic resources, it is likely myopic individuals would not survive

very long as clear distance vision is required for escape from predators,

location of food, recognition of other species members and awareness of

environmental dangers and benefits.

 

Studies carried out in hunter-gatherer societies and in recently

westernized hunter-gatherer groups indicate that the prevalence of myopia

normally occurs in 0-2% of the population, and most refractive errors are

less than minor. Moderate to high myopia is either non-existent or occurs

in about one person out of a thousand.

 

Diets high in refined starches such as breads and cereals increase insulin

levels. This affects the development of the eyeball, making it abnormally

long and causing short-sightedness, suggests a team led by Loren Cordain,

an evolutionary biologist at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

 

When these hunter-gatherer societies change their lifestyles and introduce

grains and carbohydrates, they rapidly develop (within a single generation)

myopia rates that equal or exceed those in western societies.

 

In Dr. Cordain's study of 229 hunter-gatherer societies, he found that

although refined cereals and sugars were rarely if ever consumed by groups

living in their traditional manner, these foods quickly became dietary

staples following western contact.

 

Hunter-gatherer diets are typically characterized by high levels of

protein, moderate levels of fat and low levels of carbohydrate when

compared to modern western diets.

 

The carbohydrates present in hunter-gatherer diets are of a low glycemic

index: they are slowly absorbed and produce a gradual and minimal rise in

plasma glucose and insulin levels when compared to the sugars and refined

starches in western diets.

 

Studies of recently acculturated hunter-gatherer populations that have

adopted western dietary patterns frequently show high levels of

hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia and type II diabetes.

Conversely, hunter-gatherer populations in their native environments rarely

exhibit these symptoms.

 

In industrialized countries, this dietary shift from hunter-gatherers

occurred more slowly over the 200 or so years since the advent of the

industrial revolution as more and more refined sugars were gradually

included in the diet along with increasingly greater levels of refined

cereals.

 

Although highly refined sugars and cereals are common elements of the

modern urban diet, these carbohydrates were eaten sparingly or not at all

by the average citizen in 17th and 18th century Europe and only started to

become available to the masses after the industrial revolution.

 

Only with the widespread introduction of steel roller mills in the late

19th century did fiber-depleted wheat flour of a low extraction become

widely available.

 

Hence, over the last 200-250 years the average glycemic load of foods in

urban areas of industrialized countries has risen steadily, primarily

because of increasing consumption of refined cereals and sugars. This

increase in sugars is clearly related to increased levels of insulin.

 

" Overnight Epidemics "

 

While fewer than one per cent of the Inuit and Pacific islanders had myopia

early in the last century, these rates have since skyrocketed to as high as

50 per cent. These " overnight epidemics " have usually been blamed on the

increase in reading following the sudden advent of literacy and compulsory

schooling in these societies.

 

But while reading may play a role, it does not explain why the incidence of

myopia has remained low in societies that have adopted Western lifestyles

but not Western diets, says Cordain.

 

" In the islands of Vanuatu they have eight hours of compulsory schooling a

day, " he says, " yet the rate of myopia in these children is only two per

cent. " The difference is that Vanuatuans eat fish, yam and coconut rather

than white bread and cereals.

 

The theory is also consistent with observations that people are more likely

to develop myopia if they are overweight or have adult-onset diabetes, both

of which involve elevated insulin levels. The progression of myopia has

also been shown to be slower in children whose protein consumption is

increased.

 

High Carbohydrate Intake Increase Insulin Levels.

 

This elevated level of insulin from consumption of excess grains and sugars

will serve to increase free insulin like growth factor (IGF-1) which can

then accelerate scleral tissue growth during critical developmental stages

thus leading to myopia.

 

A variety of studies also suggest that high carbohydrate diets may cause

permanent changes in the development and progression of refractive errors,

particularly during periods of early growth and development.

 

High insulin levels from the carbohydrate loads could disturb the delicate

choreography that normally coordinates eyeball lengthening and lens growth.

And if the eyeball grows too long, the lens can no longer flatten itself

enough to focus a sharp image on the retina,

 

Population studies have demonstrated that people of Asian and Chinese

descent tend to be more insulin resistant than people of European descent.

The prevalence of myopia is also higher in Asian populations than it is in

European populations; it is possible that the higher rates of myopia in

Asian populations may, in part, be due to their increased genetic

susceptibility to insulin resistance.

 

For more information, read:

 

Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica March 2002 vol 80, p 125

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=1\

1952477 & dopt=Abstract