Re: Myopia - sugars responsible, not excessive reading ...


"Taka" <taka0038@xxxxxxxxx>

"Overnight Epidemics"

While fewer than one per cent of the Inuit and Pacific islanders had
myopia early in the last century, these rates have since skyrocketed
to as high as 50 per cent. These "overnight epidemics" have usually
been blamed on the increase in reading following the sudden advent of
literacy and compulsory schooling in these societies.

But while reading may play a role, it does not explain why the
incidence of myopia has remained low in societies that have adopted
Western lifestyles but not Western diets, says Cordain.

"In the islands of Vanuatu they have eight hours of compulsory
schooling a day," he says, "yet the rate of myopia in these children
is only two per cent." The difference is that Vanuatuans eat fish, yam
and coconut rather than white bread and cereals.

It should be easy to check the salt consumption in the both islands. The
consumption and type (rafined or unrafined). It seems to me that for some
people the main cause of myopia is low salt (and minerals) consumption. Are
avaiable data for that?
S*


.