Contents:
- Medical Video: A daily cup of hot tea reduces the risk of glaucoma? - TV9
- Results of research on tea and glaucoma
- Why can drinking tea every day affect eye health?
- What other glaucoma prevention steps can be taken?
- 1. Check the condition of your eyes even if you don't feel any symptoms regularly
- 2. Regular exercise
Medical Video: A daily cup of hot tea reduces the risk of glaucoma? - TV9
Glaucoma is a condition of eye damage characterized by nerve damage behind the eyeball. This condition can cause partial or total loss of vision. Eye nerve damage due to glaucoma is permanent or irreparable, and can only be blocked by damage to the part of the nerve that has not been damaged. That's why it's very important to do glaucoma prevention. Research shows that drinking tea every day is claimed to reduce the risk of the second biggest cause of blindness in the world, is that right? Check out the review below.
Results of research on tea and glaucoma
The study was published in the 2017 British Journal of Ophthalmology, involving 84 adult respondents in depth examinations, ranging from physical examinations, blood checks, and interviews.
Each respondent was asked about the habit of drinking coffee, hot tea, decaffeinated tea, soft drinks, and other sugary drinks taken over the past 12 months.
Physical examination, especially the eyes and blood sampling, was seen in this study to provide an overview of overall health.
The study found that people who consumed hot tea everyday had a risk of glaucoma 74 percent less than those who did not drink tea regularly.
This study has the opposite results of previous findings, which show that coffee consumption which contains caffeine like tea, is associated with an increased risk of glaucoma due to increased eyeball pressure. However, of course the caffeine content in tea and coffee is different. Not to mention the two have different nutritional content.
Why can drinking tea every day affect eye health?
Reporting from the Live Science page, Dr. Anne Coleman, an ophthalmology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) said that from the study, it was thought that drinking tea regularly can help prevent glaucoma. Because, tea basically contains phytochemicals and flavonoids. These compounds have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that can protect the eyes and nerves around the eyes.
However, there must be other supporting factors according to Coleman that caused people who drank tea every day in the study to have a lower risk of glaucoma.
Other health behaviors such as exercise, alcohol consumption may affect it. Further research is needed to look at other broader conditions, and also to see what types of tea are consumed and how they are made.
What other glaucoma prevention steps can be taken?
Although the findings above show an association between daily tea drinking habits and the risk of glaucoma, the study does not show a causal relationship between tea and glaucoma. That is, this study has not been able to prove that drinking tea is indeed able to prevent the arrival of glaucoma. However, there is indeed a connection between the two that is not yet known in depth.
Therefore, besides you add to the habit of consuming tea regularly, you also have to take other precautions:
1. Check the condition of your eyes even if you don't feel any symptoms regularly
High eye pressure sometimes does not give any symptoms and makes people feel fine. So, you do not realize that your condition has suffered nerve damage and is in a state of glaucoma. According to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, the best prevention of glaucoma is to do eye tests or controls regularly.
- Before you are 40 years old, every 2-4 years check the condition of your eyes as a whole.
- Age 40-54 years, check the condition of your eyes once every 1-3 years.
- Aged 55 and above, check your eyes for at least 1-2 years.
For people who have diabetes mellitus, and have family members who have glaucoma, the risk of developing glaucoma is higher.
2. Regular exercise
Regular exercise will provide overall health benefits, and research has shown that light exercise such as walking or jogging 3 times a day or more in one week has the effect of decreasing eye pressure.
