Coffee May Preserve Eyesight

A thin tissue layer on the inside, back wall of the eye with millions of light-sensitive cells and other nerve cells that receive and organize visual information, the retina is one of the most metabolically active tissues, demanding high levels of oxygen and making it prone to oxidative stress. The lack of oxygen and production of free radicals can contribute to tissue damage and loss of sight.  Chang Y. Lee, from Cornell University (New York, USA), and colleagues exposed the eyes of a group of laboratory mice to a compound that created oxidative stress and free radicals, with a second group of the animals first pretreated with chlorogenic acid, an antioxidant compound found abundantly in raw coffee.  Whereas the mice that were not pretreated developed retinal degeneration, the mice that received chlorogenic acid did not develop retinal damage.  The study authors submit that: “Our in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated that coffee and its major component, [chlorogenic acid], significantly reduce apoptosis of retinal cells … and that coffee consumption may help in preventing retinal degeneration.”