April 17, 2018 - Eye Health
Hey folks, it’s Dr. Sam. Good morning!
I wanted to pose a question to you today. Is there a correlation between mental illness and eye disease? Let’s turn to the research studies on this topic.
Well in some of the latest research on schizophrenia, researchers found that patients who are diagnosed with schizophrenia had a higher incidence of retinopathy, cataracts, and dry eyes. I found that very interesting also in the study researchers were able to do some eye scan on the retina and they were able to measure biomarkers which could follow the progression of schizophrenia. So this is another example where you can look into the eye and you can see systemic disease. (We also know this about early-stage Alzheimer’s)
So in terms of the connection, I also looked at the impact of pharmaceutical drugs. In one study that came out this BMC Ophthalmology Journal, they found that patients who were on antidepressant medications had a higher incidence of developing eye diseases and dry eye syndrome.
This whole conversation was inspired by an article in the UK and the author was talking about nutritional psychiatry to work with mental illness. And I found this really fascinating because many psychiatrists are using pharmaceutical drugs to control mental illness, but in this study researchers now are using nutritional psychiatry to help people with a variety of conditions that range from depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and even A.D.H.D. Many of the same nutrients they are promoting, I have seen in the most cutting-edge research on eye health.
These include nutrients like:
- omega 3 fish oil
- probiotics
- selenium
- chromium
- magnesium
Other nutritonal changes include reducing consumption gluten, dairy, and sugar, as these all have inflammatory properties that affect the health of our central nervous system.
So I was really excited to see the connection between dietary recommendations for mental illness and eye health. These nutrients are critical for our entire body, not just our eyes.
So that’s my message for today. I want to thank you so much for tuning in. Until next time take good care.