January 2011 National Institutes of Health • Department of Health and Human Services • newsinhealth.nih.gov Inside News: 3 Protein Shapes... 4 Dialysis and Kidney Patients... College Drinking... Dietary Supplements Your Aging Eyes “You might find you’re holding your book farther away to read it. You How You See as Time Goes By might even start thinking your arms You may barely notice the changes just aren’t long enough,” says Dr. at first. Maybe you’ve found Emily Chew, a clinical researcher at yourself reaching more NIH’s National Eye Institute. “A good often for your glasses to and simple treatment for presbyopia see up close. You might is reading glasses.” have trouble adjusting to Cloudy areas in the lens, called glaring lights or reading cataracts, are another common eye when the light is dim. You problem that comes with age. may even have put on blue More than 22 million Ameri- socks thinking they were cans have cataracts. By age black. These are some of 80, more than half of us the normal changes to will have had them. Some your eyes and vision as cataracts stay small and have you age. little effect on eyesight, but As more Americans others become large and head toward retirement interfere with vision. Symp- and beyond, scientists toms include blurriness, expect the number of people with of disability in older adults,” says Dr. difficulty seeing well at night, lights age-related eye problems to rise Cynthia Owsley, an eye researcher at that seem too bright and faded color dramatically. You can’t prevent all the University of Alabama at Birming- vision. There are no specific steps to age-related changes to your eyes. ham. Vision changes can make it dif- prevent cataracts, but tobacco use But you can take steps to protect ficult to perform everyday activities, and exposure to sunlight raise your your vision and reduce your risk for such as reading the mail, shopping, risk of developing them. Cataract sur- serious eye disease in the future. Ef- cooking, walking safely and driving. gery is a safe and common treatment fective treatments are now available “Losing your vision may not be life- that can restore good vision. for many disorders that may lead to threatening, but it certainly affects The passage of time can also blindness or visual impairment. You your quality of life,” Owsley says. weaken the tiny muscles that con- can also learn how to make the most The clear, curved lens at the front trol your eye’s pupil size. The pupil of the vision you have. of your eye may be one of the first becomes smaller and less responsive “Vision impairment and blind- parts of your body to show signs of to changes in light. That’s why people ness are among the top 5 causes age. The lens bends to focus light in their 60s need 3 times more light and form images on the retina at for comfortable reading than those in the back of your eye. This flexibility their 20s. Smaller pupils make it more Definitions lets you see at different distances— difficult to see at night. up close or far away. But the lens Trouble seeing at night, coupled Retina hardens with age. The change may with a normal loss of peripheral Light-sensitive tissue at the back of begin as early as your 20s, but it continued on page 2 your eye that converts light into elec- can come so gradually it may take trical signals that travel to your brain. decades to notice. Eventually, age-related stiffening Pupil and clouding of the lens affects just @ The round, black-looking opening about everyone. You’ll have trouble Subscribe that lets light into your eye. It gets focusing on up-close objects, a con- smaller in bright light and larger in dition called presbyopia. Anyone over newsinhealth.nih.gov dim light. age 35 is at risk for presbyopia. 2 January 2011 http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/Jan2011 continued from page 1 your visual processing speed—how vision as you age, can affect many quickly you can process visual infor- Web Links daily activities, including your ability mation and make decisions behind the wheel.” to drive safely. Loss of peripheral For more about eyes and aging, To find better ways to assess driver vision increases your risk for auto- see our links online: mobile accidents, so you need to be safety, Owsley and her colleagues more cautious when driving. are giving 2,000 older drivers differ- http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/Jan2011/Feature1 “Keeping older adults active and ent types of vision screening tests, on the road as drivers, as long as including tests of visual processing in the center of your eyesight. “AMD they’re safely able to do so, is consid- speed. By tracking their driving re- is the leading cause of blindness in ered important to their health and cords for several years, the scientists Americans over age 65,” says Chew. psychological well-being,” says can figure out which tests were best A large NIH-supported clinical Owsley. But she notes that tests for at predicting safe or dangerous driv- study by Chew and others found that motor vehicle licenses tend to focus ing, including car crashes. These find- a specific combination of vitamins on visual acuity—how well you can ings might eventually lead to more and minerals can prevent AMD from read the letters on an eye chart. accurate screening tests to identify progressing to a more severe form. “Visual acuity tests may not be the potentially unsafe drivers. Scientists also found that people who best way to identify drivers at risk for If you’re not convinced you should eat diets rich in green, leafy vegeta- crashes,” she says. “Other issues are have regular eye exams, consider that bles—such as kale and spinach—or also important, like contrast sen- some of the more serious age-related fish are less likely to have advanced sitivity, your peripheral vision and eye diseases—like glaucoma, age- AMD. A larger study of 4,000 AMD related macular degeneration (AMD) patients is now testing to see if fish and diabetic eye disease—may have oil or a vitamin/mineral combination Wise Choices no warning signs or symptoms in might slow progress of the disease. Protect Your Vision their early stages. Diabetic eye disease, another lead- Glaucoma comes from increased ing cause of blindness, can damage n Have a comprehensive eye exam fluid pressure inside the eye that the tiny blood vessels inside the each year after age 50. damages the optic nerve. “Glaucoma retina. Keeping your blood sugar n Stop smoking. can slowly steal your peripheral vi- under control can help prevent or n Eat a diet rich in green, leafy sion. You may not notice it until it’s slow the problem. vegetables and fish. advanced,” says Chew. It can be treat- The only way to detect these seri- ed with prescription eye drops, lasers ous eye diseases before they cause n Exercise. or surgery. If not treated, however, it vision loss or blindness is through n Maintain normal blood pressure. can lead to vision loss and blindness. a comprehensive dilated eye exam. n Control diabetes if you have it. AMD causes gradual loss of vision Your eye care professional will put drops in your eyes to enlarge, or n Wear sunglasses and a brimmed dilate, the pupils and then look for hat any time you’re outside in Definitions signs of disease. “Having regular bright sunshine. comprehensive eye care gives your n Wear protective eyewear when Optic Nerve doctor a chance to identify a problem playing sports or doing work The largest sensory nerve of the eye. very early on and then treat it,” says around the house that may It carries signals for sight from the Owsley. Annual eye exams are espe- cause eye injury. retina to the brain. cially important if you have diabetes. “Many of the healthy behaviors that help reduce your risk for long- NIH News in Health (ISSN 1556-3898) term diseases, like heart disease National Institutes of Health Editor Harrison Wein, Ph.D. and cancer, can also help to protect Office of Communications Assistant Editor Vicki Contie your eyesight,” says Owsley. These & Public Liaison Contributors Emily Carlson, Vicki Contie, Alan Building 31, Room 5B64 include not smoking, eating a healthy Defibaugh (illustrations), Bryan Ewsichek (design) diet and controlling conditions like Bethesda, MD 20892-2094 and Harrison Wein [email protected] diabetes and high blood pressure. Tel: 301-435-7489 Fax: 301-496-0019 newsinhealth.nih.gov “It’s nice to know that healthy living not only adds years to your life, Attention Editors Reprint our articles and illustrations in your own publication. Our material For more health information from NIH, visit but also protects your vision as is not copyrighted. Please acknowledge NIH News you get older,” Owsley says. n in Health as the source and send us a copy. http://health.nih.gov http://newsinhealth.nih.gov/issue/Jan2011 January 2011 3 Biological Blueprints Protein Shapes Help Treat Disease How many proteins do you think you disease-causing viruses or bacteria. have in your body? The answer is in One structure-based success came in the billions. Proteins deliver oxy- 1989, when NIH-funded scientists dis- gen to your tissues, defend against covered the shape of HIV protease, a infection, digest food and even make protein that helps the AIDS virus get new proteins. These molecules are into our cells. The researchers showed uniquely designed to carry out their that the protein, like a butterfly, was tasks.