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(NaturalNews) Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It comes like a silent thief, gradually stealing sight and usually providing no warning symptoms in the early stages. But as the disease progresses, damage to the optic nerve grows worse and side vision can gradually fail until there’s only tunnel vision left, and then no vision at all. Treatment with drugs and surgery may slow down the eyesight deterioration but there’s no cure. However, new research provides evidence there’s a natural way to prevent glaucoma from developing in the first place — drink green tea regularly.

A study just published in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry concludes that phytochemicals found in green tea actually penetrate deeply into tissues of the eyes. This is the first report to document how the lens, retina and other parts of the eye absorb the powerful antioxidants and disease-fighting substances found in green tea and it strongly raises the possibility that green tea can prevent glaucoma as well as other eye diseases and conditions.

Scientist Chi Pui Pang, Ph.D., of the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and his colleagues pointed out in a statement to the press that green tea contains flavonoids known as catechins that are thought to protect the eyes. But until now, there was doubt that catechins could pass through the stomach and gastrointestinal tract and end up in eye tissues. However, in experiments with laboratory rats, the scientists showed conclusively that after green tea is consumed, structures in the eye absorb sight-protecting green tea catechins.

When the scientists analyzed the eye tissues of the animals used in their study, they discovered that various eye structures had absorbed significant amounts of individual catechins. For instance, the retina took in the highest levels of a catechin known as gallocatechin and the aqueous humor (a thick watery substance that fills the space between the lens and the cornea) soaked up another green tea phytochemical dubbed epigallocatechin.

Bottom line: green tea catechins reduced harmful oxidative stress in the eyes that is linked to glaucoma and other eye diseases. What’s more, the protective effect lasted up to 20 hours.

As regular readers of NaturalNews are aware, this good news about green tea is one more example of a host of scientific evidence that has accumulated over the last few years showing that drinking green tea is a powerful natural way to protect health. For example, researchers have found that green tea has the potential to prevent and treat osteoporosis and other bone diseases that affect millions throughout the world (http://www.naturalnews.com/027194_green_tea_osteoporosis_disease.html). Phytochemicals in green tea also show promise in preventing and treating serious brain disorders like Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s diseases (http://www.naturalnews.com/027757_green_tea_brain_function.html).

Editor’s note: NaturalNews is opposed to the use of animals in medical experiments that expose them to harm. We present these findings in protest of the way in which they were acquired.

For more information:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20085274
http://www.glaucoma.org/
http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/glaucoma/glaucoma_facts.asp

(NaturalNews) The health ministry of South Korea has announced that advertisements for foods that are high in fat, sugar, and salt, will be limited during the prime time television hours of 5 and 7 p.m. and during any children’s programming. In support of national efforts to curb childhood obesity, the limitations will include foods such as hamburgers, instant noodles, and pizza as well as desserts like chocolate, candy, and ice cream.

Many South Korean child advocacy groups have been calling for limitations on junk food advertising for years, citing the statistic that 20 percent of children in the country are overweight. Last year, the health ministry banned junk food sales at schools and their surrounding neighborhoods.

A stricter version of the advertising ban was proposed back in 2008 that would have stopped junk food advertising for four hours instead of two but television broadcasters and their advertisers strongly opposed the strict regulations. The South Korean government eventually arrived at a compromised version which is said to take effect within the next several weeks.

Following its implementation, government officials plan to evaluate the success of the program to see if an observable reduction in obesity takes place. It will use the results in formulating future obesity-related regulations.

Officials expressed that the goal of the ban is to encourage food manufacturers to improve the nutritional quality of their products. Rather than simply enact burdensome restrictions, the health ministry is hoping that when all is said and done, consumers will have healthier options available to them as well as be more informed about what they are purchasing.

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, the two most effective ways to limit children’s consumption of unhealthy foods is to restrict their advertising and remove them from schools.

Many advocacy groups in the United States have expressed similar sentiments, urging the U.S. government to enact similar legislation to restrict junk food advertising. Since obesity rates are spiraling out of control domestically, they believe that restrictions will help to improve childhood health.

Unfortunately, many of the primary causes of the nation’s abundance of cheap junk food and the inevitable obesity epidemic it causes have to do with things like crop subsidies, regulatory agency mismanagement, genetic modification, and lack of transparency in food labeling. A limit on advertising may help to curb the amount of junk food children eat but it will not remove it from grocery store shelves.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/7025149/South-Korea-restricts-TV-ads-for-junk.html

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304611,south-korea-bans-junk-food-commercials.html

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