A Personal Message from Me, the Founder and Administrator of This Group. December 11th, 2021.
This began as a project for my Facebook Group founded in May 2016 to be an extension of this site. The day before I posted it, I decided that it should be here, too, for anyone who can benefit. I apologize about the ‘comment’ format. I hope it’s not too distracting. – Linda Chernek Moore.
Who should read this?
Everyone who is concerned about eye and brain health:
• those with and without macular degeneration,
• those with and without cognitive problems, including Alzheimer’s Disease.
In my opinion, that means everyone here.
My Journey Story
I will – for the first time in over 5 years here – tell you what supplement my husband and I take and why. I will take you step-by-step through the process of how I came to select it for us.
This isn’t a sales pitch because I’m not actually promoting a product, I’m actually promoting good scientific research.
Why am I sharing it in what seems to be a ‘big way’? It’s because I think it is important. You probably know how cautious I am about supplements. I do not promote the “It’s a supplement/vitamin, it can’t hurt!” They CAN hurt some people. I have many examples of that.
This is one of the FEW times I’ll be able to say, “It can’t hurt! It’s safe!”
Our Genetic Guns
My dad had advanced dry AMD/geographic atrophy. My husband’s mother had AMD, but we’re not sure of the type. Neither of us have AMD – yet – but research has shown that we each have a higher risk of it than someone with no family history. We each have additional risk factors as well.
There’s another disease for which we both have an inherited risk factor: Alzheimer’s Disease. My mother had it. We think my husband’s mother had it as well, although it may have been another form of dementia.
I’ve shared this quote that’s often used for discussions of genetics:
genetics loads the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.
What does that mean? It means that a person may have a specific genetic makeup that predisposes them to a disease, but lifestyle factors DO matter. They can prevent the expression of the genes or can lessen the impact of them.
With family histories of AMD -and- Alzheimer’s, our guns are loaded!
We are COUNTING on those lifestyle factors! I’m 68 and my husband is 70. There’s a third risk factor: age. They’re both age-related diseases, so our guns are REALLY loaded!
Comments
I’ve been working on this in ‘fits and starts’ since early October, so it’s been almost 2 months. I hope I’ve managed to put together a coherent description of this long process. Because there’s been so much to it, I’ve put the details in the comments (on the Facebook page, that is). Here is an outline, so you can go to what you’re interested in if you don’t want to read the whole story.
Outline
1 The Eyes and the Brain: Same Lifestyle Factors
2 Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants
3 Three (3) Carotenoids, Not Just 2!
4 What Is Meso-zeaxanthin? Why Is It Important? Show Me the Research!
5 Dr. Nolan’s Research: His Questions and Answers
6 Where Do People Get LMZ? My Questions and Answers
7 Time to Get Personal: Are The Moores Getting Enough LMZ?
8 Can The Moores Improve Their Diet?
9 Those of You With AMD: Your Benefit
10 Should The Moores Take a LMZ Supplement?
11 Which Brand?
12 More Validation
13 The Beginning and The End
Comment 1. The Eyes and The Brain: Same Lifestyle Factors
The eyes are actually part of the brain, so it’s not surprising that what benefits the eyes, benefits the brain. If you’re not familiar with the connection between the eyes and the brain, here’s a brief explanation. https://youtu.be/4Na0Mj0b_6A
Lifestyle Factors for the Eyes and the Brain
The same lifestyle factors affect them both. Nutrition and smoking are the main ones. I never smoked, but my husband did but quit 40 years ago.
I started my investigation with nutrition because of our continued struggles with the Mediterranean way of eating, which is recommended for both diseases. We try our best to eat healthy but found that we were falling short of the very specific nutrition advice given frequently.
Not Just Healthy Eating
Years ago I found out that ‘eating healthy’ does not necessarily mean ‘eating healthy enough for the eyes’ and now discovered the same thing applied to eating healthy for the brain! Much more to it!
Comment 2. Oxidative Stress & Antioxidants
In both diseases, oxidative stress is a major factor because research has shown that it leads to inflammation, which leads to diseases such as AMD and Alzheimer’s. I wanted to make sure I understood the terms oxidative stress, free radicals, and antioxidants.
What Exactly IS Oxidative Stress?
Think about an apple that you cut and is exposed to the air. It changes & spoils the apple, doesn’t it? Also, think about what rust is. Both processes are from oxidation, which means something is exposed to oxygen and is changed.
Some people say that since we depend so much on oxygen, aging is just rusting! Lovely image, huh? Soon I’ll be introducing you to Dr. John Nolan who says this is “the cost of doing business with life.”
In the body, oxidation is a chemical reaction in a cell when it is exposed to oxygen. Our retinas use the most oxygen of any cells, so that’s a LOT of oxidation!
In these cells, there can be an imbalance of what are called free radicals (the ‘bad guys’) and anti-oxidants (the ‘good guys’).
Oxidative stress is when the ‘bad guys’ are getting control, which is NOT good! Here’s a short video that explains this.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR2pV_Z35dnfoWxdzx9IXdmQSm9t6MfMR1VAkHCsAkFCQHNlB9b3ks69XS8&v=9OgCjhAFCC0&feature=youtu.be
Oxidative Stress and Inflammation
Oxidative stress can trigger inflammation which is thought to cause dis-eases (yes, I purposefully put in the -) like AMD and Alzheimer’s, or at least it’s thought to be a major factor. For more information about the effects of oxidative stress on the body—> https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324863#summary
Anti-oxidants
So to battle oxidative stress, we need a good and consistent supply of anti-oxidants (that is ‘anti’ for ‘against’ & ‘oxidants’ referring to oxidation and oxidative stress; I’ll leave out that ‘-‘ from now on).
This 15-minute video is the first part of a Continuing Medical Education course which gives a GREAT explanation of the process and introduces the role of the 3 powerful antioxidants that are critical to protecting and nourishing our photoreceptors, which are the cells that convert light to sight. ‘Macular Pigment Supplementation: A Prescription for Vision and Cognitive Health.’
https://youtu.be/-8n9rz2AmXE
I highly recommend part 2 as well.