Can colour save your vision?

April 24th, 2007 by Aakash Shah

Study aims to see whether pigments can block eye degeneration.

Pigments that tint leaves in the fall and give orange peppers their colour are also nestled in the back of the eye. Can they help stop a blinding disease and protect sensitive eyes from bright lights?

Dennis Gierhart is betting they can. He even started a company based on the faith that supplements containing the pigments can reverse light sensitivity and slow down macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly .

He’s commissioned a study at the University of Missouri-St Louis, where researchers are testing the supplements to see if they truly can help the health of the eye. Washington University is also conducting tests on the pigments and their effect on eye disease.

The impact of the pigments is “speculative” right now, said Dr Rajendra S Apte, an ophthalmologist who is leading the Washington University study But macular degen . eration is such a problem, he said, that “we need whatever we can get.” Macular degeneration happens when lightgathering cells at the back of the eye die. There is no approved treatment for its dry form (earlier stage). But the scientists want to know whether two pigments in the eye — lutein and zeaxanthin — might slow the disease or stop people from developing it.

Gierhart thinks that zeaxanthin, the lesser known pigment, could offer a solution. He first focused on the pigment when he was a senior scientist at an agricultural chemical company. He was interested in it as a feed additive to colour chicken skin yellow. (American consumers prefer yellow chickens, according to marketing studies.) He later made himself a human guinea pig for testing dietary supplements containing the chemical. A measurement of Gierhart’s macular pigment showed that he had little pigment over his retinas. That put him at risk for macular degeneration. Taking the supplements increased the pigment levels in his eyes to normal levels. About six years ago, he came out of retirement to launch ZeaVision, a company that sells supplements containing the pigments. So far, the company is selling the pills through 100 eye doctors and over the Internet. The pills don’t require federal approval because they are not drugs.

Source: www.hindustantimes.com

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