News Karnataka
Friday, March 29 2024
Cricket
Health & Lifestyle

High sunlight exposure may cut myopia in adulthood: Study

Photo Credit :

London: Worried about your teenage kids spending a lot of time playing outdoors games? Take heart, a new study has suggested that increased amounts of exposure to sunlight may reduce the risks of developing myopia or nearsightedness in adulthood.
According to the study, higher exposure of ultraviolet B (UVB) between ages 14 and 29 years may have reduced odds of myopia or nearsightedness a condition in which close objects appear clearly, but far ones do not in adulthood.

For the study, the research team from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in Britain, examined the association of myopia with UVB radiation, serum vitamin D concentrations and vitamin D pathway genetic variants, adjusting for years in education in 371 participants with myopia and 2,797 without.

The results showed that those in the years of education had twice the odds of myopia.

Although exposure to sunlight increases vitamin D levels, it did not correlate with nearsightedness.

No independent associations between myopia and serum vitamin D3 concentrations or variants in genes associated with vitamin D metabolism were found, the researchers said.

In contrast, those who had the highest blood levels of lutein a nutrient found in leafy vegetables had nearly half the risk of myopia compared with those with the lowest levels.

“The association between UVB, education, and myopia remained even after respective adjustment. This suggests that the high rate of myopia associated with educational attainment is not solely mediated by lack of time outdoors,” said Astrid E. Fletcher from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“As the protective effect of time spent outdoors is increasingly used in clinical interventions, a greater understanding of the mechanisms and life stages at which benefit is conferred is warranted,” Fletcher added, in the study published online in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology.

Share this:
MANY DROPS MAKE AN OCEAN
Support NewsKarnataka's quality independent journalism with a small contribution.

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

To get the latest news on WhatsApp