Dr. Garg Talks About Reducing the Risk of Macular Degeneration

As a retina specialist, I take care of a lot of patients with macular degeneration. And many of my patients are older, and their adult children often bring mom and dad in, and the main thing they want to know is are they destined to get macular degeneration themselves? The answer is no, but there's definitely things that they can do to reduce the risk.

The biggest thing, of course, is to get younger. But to the extent that that's not possible, we know that stopping smoking remains a huge thing that people can do to reduce their risk. We even think that reducing the amount of cigarettes people smoke can be helpful.

Number two eating foods like dark green leafy vegetables like broccoli, spinach, or kale three servings a week also really helpful. Carrots are still great, but the dark greens seem to be even more impactful.

Eating foods high in omega 3 fatty acids are really helpful, and that includes fatty fish, almonds, walnuts. But we don't think supplements are really as helpful as eating those foods. And then finally, 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise at least three times a week is really helpful.

It seems like, well, why should that matter? Well, the area behind the retina gets the most amount of blood supply for any tissue for its size in the body. If you can keep those blood vessels healthy, it seems to keep the macular healthy. These are some tips that might help you prevent macular degeneration as well