Continued from Part 2
Comment 5. Dr. Nolan’s Research: His Questions and Answers
Perhaps the best way to understand how this research evolved over time is to listen to Dr. Nolan describe it in detail before he joins us on Tuesday, December 14th (see the Events section on the Facebook group’s page). It was this podcast from September 3rd, 2021, that helped me to understand how the researchers started by looking at lutein and then measuring and testing all 3 carotenoids.
‘Age-related Macular Degeneration, Supplementation, and Key Research Findings in the Field of Ocular Nutrition.’
http://broadeye.org/nolan/?fbclid=IwAR29J6lcBxCYHkAGuV8wTfsxD7t6cbnNieWFC8U1wLihlVrcStYcR_0DC0g
The Questions
What’s clear from the podcast is that he approaches all his research as you should – with questions. The basic ones were:
- Can we prevent eye diseases like AMD by enhancing the macular pigment?
- By optimizing all 3 carotenoids in the macular pigment, can we improve contrast sensitivity (ability to detect differences in shading and patterns), reduce glare issues, improve photostress recovery (ability of vision to come back to normal after exposure to bright light) and other measures of vision in everyone with or without AMD?
- Does the measurement of the macular pigment give us an indication of the levels of the carotenoids in the brain?
- Does enhancing the level of carotenoids in the body prevent a disease like Alzheimer’s?
- Does enhancing the level of carotenoids in the brain help improve memory and cognition?
The Answers
The answers after 20 years of doing study after study were yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes!
He and his colleagues were able to move beyond subjective measures to objective measures that could be validated and reproduced.
Summary
As far as the research about our eyes, they not only looked at the ‘traditional’ measure of vision which is visual acuity, but objectively measured contrast sensitivity, glare sensitivity, and other aspects of vision. Having sufficient levels of LMZ meant significant improvements in these measures.
As far as research about Alzheimer’s, they not only looked at preventing the disease but at improving memory and cognition.
Understand My Excitement?
I hope you understand why I was so interested in the work he and his colleagues did and continue to do 20 years later!
Onward!
After digging through all the research I could and talking to Dr. Nolan personally to fill in the gaps, it was now time to apply the findings from the research to my life and my husband’s.
Comment 6 Where Do People Get LMZ? My Questions and Answers
So MY big question at this point was:
If we need all 3 carotenoids, can we get them from our diet by eating plant-based foods?
Although we can get enough lutein from plant-based foods, it’s harder to get zeaxanthin and almost impossible to get meso-zeaxanthin because it’s found only in the skin of some fish like trout and shellfish. We don’t eat trout or shellfish.
Somewhere along the line before this project, I’d read that zeaxanthin & meso-zeaxanthin are made from lutein in the body.
There are researchers who believe that the body metabolizes lutein and produces meso-zeaxanthin so as long as we’re getting enough lutein, we are fine.
Dr. Nolan says that he believes that SOME people do produce meso-zeaxanthin from plant foods, but not everyone. He’s done extensive testing of people’s macular pigment over the years and estimates that 15% of the population don’t have optimal macular pigment for whatever reason.
What reasons? Not getting enough lutein? Getting enough lutein, but their body isn’t converting it to meso-zeaxanthin? The ‘jury is still out’ on this, but it may be because of a lack of certain enzymes.