How to Protect Your Eyeballs if You Have High Blood Sugar

Lisa is in her forties with straight black hair and a mischievous smile. She is a natural teaser so it’s hard to know when she is being serious. But for one who smiles so much, she has a lot of health problems.

Over ten years ago, Lisa was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. But it didn’t phase her one bit. Her doctor simply told her to take the medications and she would be fine. She did everything she was told but continued to get worse. Her blood sugar was rarely in the normal rage. Within a few years she was injecting insulin under her skin, but her doctor was forced to increase the dose to try to get her blood sugar down. It seems like no matter what she did her blood sugar was always high. By the time Lisa was in her thirties, her feet were numb and her kidneys were starting to fail. Now, she’s in a wheelchair with her right leg amputated, she’s on dialysis for kidney failure, and she’s totally blind.

People with diabetes often notice vision changes with fluctuations in blood sugar. But, I have also had many patients say that their prescription for glasses changed as their blood sugar came down. This is due to the amount of sugar in the blood causing water to shift in and out of the eyeball through osmosis. This is not dangerous, nor does it lead to blindness.

Diabetic Retinopathy

The number one cause of blindness in the “Western World” is diabetic retinopathy.[1] In only ten years, from 2000 to 2010 the number of cases nearly doubled!

The number of cases of diabetic retinopathy is expected to reach 11 million by 2030. Yet, this is completely preventable. We have the technology to prevent all new cases of diabetic retinopathy within a few years.

The retina, the layer in the eye that’s sensitive to light, is also very sensitive to energy. These cells need a lot of energy in the form of glucose. Without a constant supply, the cells die, causing blindness.

Glucose doesn’t automatically reach the eye; it must be brought in by glucose transport proteins called GLUT1. When the blood sugar is high all the time, GLUT1 gradually decreases. By the time a person has symptoms from diabetic retinopathy there are no more glucose transport proteins.[2]  Essentially, the retina is STARVING in a sea of sugar because it can’t cross the blood-Retina barrier to get to where it needs to be.  So, the cause of blindness is simple – none of the energy from sugar is getting to the retina.

When the blood sugar is high, it becomes more concentrated in the lining of the blood vessels, causing inflammation. It also makes a hormone called Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) that causes more blood vessels to form. When an ophthalmologist looks in the eye and sees more and more blood vessels, they call it “PROLIFERATIVE RETINOPATHY.” The new blood vessels also lack GLUT1 and cannot give the retina any glucose, so it doesn’t solve the problem. The damaged[3] blood vessels become leaky causing swelling, or “MACULAR EDEMA” as well as leaking blood into the clear gel that fills the eye, called “vitreous humor.” This makes it cloudy and decreases vision.

These names for “different” eye diseases are really just different manifestations of the same problem: chronic inflammation in the eyes — the cells of the retina don’t have enough energy to function – and survive. In their need, they release hormones to improve their function, but don’t address the underlying problem – a lack of glucose – and make it worse.

The usual treatment is to use lasers to burn the extra blood vessels and stop the leaking, inject cortisone to shrink the swelling, or take the vitreous (gel) out of the eye and replace it to get rid of the blood that leaks into it. These may help the symptoms, but do not fix the problem, and people still go blind despite treatment.

Blindness from type 2 diabetes is totally preventable. If doctors told people how to prevent it there would not be a single case. Unfortunately, medical practice is over thirty years behind the research. The doctors can’t keep up with all the new information – they’re still telling their patients that taking medications and insulin will prevent blindness. It isn’t true. One large diabetes study in England in 2004[4] found that there were 12% fewer complications in those who weren’t on medications. They had a lower HbA1c, and higher blood pressure and cholesterol.

Type 2 Diabetes Vision Treatment and Prevention

The reason I try to explain why people with diabetes go blind is because it’s the only way to attack to root of the problem. Once we know why it happens it will be obvious what needs to be done.

The essential ingredient, of course, is to keep the blood sugar as normal as possible. If the blood glucose is high all the time, the GLUT1 glucose transport proteins will be decreased, leading to blindness. It is also worse for the retinas if there are widely fluctuating glucose levels. You don’t want to go from a glucose of 300 down to 70. This produces more inflammation in the retina.[5]

The simplest way I have found is PHASE 1 of the Barton Publishing Diabetes Solution Kit. Phase 1 is a way to get the blood sugar down to normal by training your body to burn fat instead of sugar. This is a gradual process, not an event, so be careful that you stay with the program until your blood sugar becomes normal. It doesn’t need to be rushed. But – NO CHEATING! If you don’t stick to the 20 grams or less of net carbs, you will not see the benefits. It’s often helpful to measure your KETONES either in blood or urine to determine if you are burning fat. Ketones are the by-product of using fat for energy.

Also, remember that if you are taking medications or injecting insulin you may have to be especially careful to monitor your blood sugar, so you don’t get too low. Work with your doctor to regulate your medications as your blood glucose drops. This can take anywhere from a day to a couple weeks. The optimal range for blood glucose is between 70 and 90 during fasting. After a meal it may go up to 120 but should come down within a couple of hours.

Best Bacteria for Eye Health

One unusual treatment is to normalize the bacteria in the bowels. With an overgrowth of “bad” bacteria in the large intestine, the body produces more inflammation.[6] The normally minor reaction of the retina becomes a major reaction, leading to blindness.

So, take a probiotic. The ones that regulate inflammation best contain Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, and Saccharomyces boulardii. Also, make sure you are getting prebiotics – the fiber that grows the good bacteria. These come from fruit, vegetables, and seeds (including whole grains, beans, nuts, lentils, and so forth). One surprising vegetable that has an unusual prebiotic is jicama, which contains inulin. Few other foods contain this remarkable fiber.

The Vitamins You Need to Protect Your Eyes

Third, the retinas in your eyes make a lot of oxygen free radicals, so they need a constant supply of vitamins to neutralize them. Your eyes use mostly vitamin A derivatives, including all the colors in the rainbow. Lutein is the red color of tomatoes. Beta carotene comes from the color of carrots, and all the red, orange, or yellow vegetables. Berries are a great source of colors to help your eyes. Use tomato sauce instead of taking pills. Eat carrots instead of snacking on chips. Have bell peppers, broccoli, and other vegetables cut up in your refrigerator. Have blueberries in your (plain) yogurt. You’ll feel great about snacking on things that help your eyeballs!

If you have diabetes, it is important to supplement with vitamin A to protect your eyesight as well as eating the colors above. Don’t forget zinc, a mineral that is also essential to the function of the retinas. And vitamin D3 deficiency is associated with diabetic retinopathy.[7]

Fasting for Better Eyesight

And last, periodic fasting will reset the system. When your computer is not working right, being slow, or the video is choppy you call your IT person. She says: … (anyone who’s been there can answer this) turn the computer off, wait a few minutes, then turn it on again. And VIOLA! It works swell! Well, this is exactly what an empty stomach does. The word “fasting” refers to having an empty stomach, it turns off the stress or “catabolic” state. When our stomach is empty, it produces a hormone called GHRELIN named because it is a “Growth Hormone RELeasing “IN” refers to a hormone. This hormone induces the “anabolic” state and repairs your body in multiple ways, but in this case, especially the eyeballs. The more our stomach is empty, the more we repair and detox the eyes.

Recommendations for Healthy Eyeballs: 

• Use dietary means to train your body to burn fat instead of sugar (Keto diet or Phase 1).
• Fast one day per week with no food or water.
• Eat a variety of colored vegetables and fruit.
• Take a probiotic. (Healthy Gut Support has both the probiotics and prebiotics, as well as digestive enzymes to aid digestion, this can be very helpful).
• Vitamin D3 – 5,000 IU daily (CinnaChroma has 5,000 IU so you don’t need to add any more)
• Zinc – about 50mg per day for 90 days then 50mg per week.

Taking these simple steps is so much easier than what Lisa is going through. She’s young. She did everything she was told. She took her medications. She injected insulin… But still has all the complications of diabetes. Prevention is ALWAYS best, and it’s simple (though not always easy) and straight-forward. Anyone can protect their eyeballs from the ravages of diabetes!

 

 

Sources:
[1] https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health/resources-for-health-educators/eye-health-data-and-statistics/diabetic-retinopathy-data-and-statistics
[2] Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1994 May;35(6):2887-94. GLUT1 glucose transporter expression in the diabetic and nondiabetic human eye. Kumagai AK1, Glasgow BJ, Pardridge WM.
[3] J Cell Physiol. 2013 Feb;228(2):251-7. doi: 10.1002/jcp.24133.
Suppression of GLUT1; a new strategy to prevent diabetic complications.
Lu L1, Seidel CP, Iwase T, Stevens RK, Gong YY, Wang X, Hackett SF, Campochiaro PA.
[4] Lancet 2004 Jul 31;364(9432):423-8 (ISSN: 1474-547X) Hippisley-Cox J; Pringle M
[5] Biochem. J. (1996) 318, 313–317 (Printed in Great Britain) 313. Regulation of glucose transporters (GLUT-1 and GLUT-3) in human retinal. endothelial cells. Rachel M. KNOTT, Marie ROBERTSON, Elizabeth MUCKERSIE and John V. FO
[6] Gut Microbiota and IL-17A: Physiological and Pathological Responses. Banafsheh Douzandeh-Mobarrez 1 2, Ashraf Kariminik 3; PMID: 28921400 DOI: 10.1007/s12602-017-9329-z
[7] Nutrients. 2017 Mar; 9(3): 307.; Published online 2017 Mar 20. doi: 10.3390/nu9030307; The Association between Vitamin D and Diabetic Retinopathy