Dietary supplement carnosine may help prevent cataract

by Anil Kumar



The popular dietary supplement carnosine may help to prevent and treat cataracts, revealed by researchers. Cataract a clouding of the lens of the eye that is a leading cause of vision loss worldwide.

The study will be printed in American Chemical Society's Biochemistry, a weekly journal in US.

Enrico Rizzarelli and colleagues note that the only effective treatment for cataracts is surgical replacement of the lens (cataract surgery), the clear disc-like structure inside the eye that focuses light on the nerve tissue in the back of the eye. Cataracts develop when the main structural protein in the lens, alpha-crystallin, forms abnormal clumps. The clumps make the lens cloudy and impair vision. Previous studies hinted that carnosine may help block the formation of these clumps.

The scientists exposed tissue cultures of healthy rat lenses to either guanidine - a substance known to form cataracts - or a combination of guanidine and carnosine. The guanidine lenses became completely cloudy, while the guanidine/carnosine lenses developed 50 to 60 percent less cloudiness. Carnosine also restored most of the clarity to clouded lenses.

The results demonstrate the potential of using carnosine for preventing and treating cataracts, the scientists say.

Dietary Carnosine Sources -- Carnosine is an antioxidant and protects the cells in the body from free radical damage. Carnosine is abundant in all protein foods, but best food sources are beef, chicken, pork, etc.


(Anil Kumar -- sub-editor compiled and published Dietary supplement carnosine may help prevent cataract at HealthNewsTrack on July 16, 2009 sourced from American Chemical Society - http://www.acs.org/)

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