How coffee affects vision

American scientists from Brigham Young University have found a correlation between coffee consumption and the risk of glaucoma.

 

Researchers claim that more than three cups of coffee a day increases the risk of vision loss. Scientists emphasize that even a moderate amount of this drink creates favorable conditions for the development of glaucoma, an eye disease caused by increased intraocular pressure.

 

Researchers argue that substances contained in coffee can contribute to increased pressure inside the eyeball, as a result of which vision begins to deteriorate and develop exfoliative glaucoma. In a study involving more than 120 thousand people over 40 years from the UK and the United States without glaucoma, volunteers filled out questionnaires in which, among other things, indicated the amount of coffee they consume per day.

 

Data from the medical examination of all study participants were tested for susceptibility to glaucoma. People who drank more than three cups of coffee per day were found to have an increased risk of glaucoma compared to those who drank less coffee or none at all. Women with unfavorable heredity for the disease also had an increased risk of glaucoma, the study determined.

 

Glaucoma is a large group of eye diseases characterized by a constant or intermittent increase in intraocular pressure above a tolerated individual level, followed by the development of typical visual field defects, decreased visual acuity, and optic nerve atrophy. Glaucoma develops when the drainage ducts inside the eye are obstructed. The outflow of fluid from the eyeball is disturbed, resulting in an increase in intraocular pressure.

 

Such processes lead to damage of the optic nerve, which transmits information to the brain, and nerve fibers of the retina.