According to a study, consuming green leafy vegetables every day may decrease the risk of glaucoma by at least 20 percent. "We found that people consuming green leafy vegetables had 20 to 30 percent lower risk of glaucoma," said the study leader Jae Kang. Kang is an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. Glaucoma is an eye condition that occurs because of an increased amount of fluids in the front part of the eye, thus causing pressure on the eye and damaging the optic nerves. According to the US National Eye Institute, glaucoma can lead to loss of vision. Although the study found that there was an association between consuming leafy vegetables and lower risk of glaucoma, there was no proof of a cause and effect relationship. Kang's team studied the data of nearly 64,000 participants in the Nurses' Health Study from 1984 through 2012, and more than 41,000 participants in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study from 1986 through 2014. The male and female participants were all 40 years old or older. None had glaucoma at the beginning of the study, and they regularly had eye exams every two years. Over the 25 years of study, almost 1,500 people developed glaucoma. The researchers then looked at the pattern of green leafy vegetables consumption among the participants. They divided the participants into five groups, from the highest level of green leafy vegetable consumption to the lowest. Those who consume the most ate 1.5 servings per day, or about one and a half cups. While those who consume the least, ate about one serving of vegetables every three days. "There is a disruption of blood flow to the optic nerves in patients with glaucoma," said Kang, "and an important factor that regulates blood flow to the eye is a substance called nitric oxide." Green leafy vegetables contain nitrates, which are precursors to nitric oxide.

Text by Denistya Sagita

Stock photos from Belmarra Health

Source(s):

• http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health- glaucoma-nitrate- vegetables-idUSKCN0UY2GE
• http://www.brightfocus.org/glaucoma/article/leafy-green- vegetables-and- glaucoma-risk