Watch your chicken rice

Eating too many plates of chicken rice and mee goreng may not be good for macular degeneration patients. While delicious, foods like that are "bad" carbohydrates that can significantly increase the risk MD, according to a study in the United States.

Low glycemic or "good" carbohydrates are found in foods containing whole grain, whereas high glycemic or "bad" carbohydrates are found in processed foods such as white rice.

Researchers say evidence is building that "bad" carbs rating high on a glycemic index

can cause spikes in blood sugar that are unhealthy for eyes, whereas "good" carbs help stabilise blood sugar.

Dietary glycemic index is a scale used to determine how quickly carbohydrates are broken down into blood sugar, or glucose. Refined carbs like white bread and rice have high glycemic indices. Whole wheat rice, pasta and bread have low glycemic indices.

The study found that men and women older then 55 who consumed diets with higher-than-average dietary glycemic index foods appeared to have an increased risk for both early and later stages of AMD.

"No one has been able to identify an effective noninvasive intervention that will slow the progress of AMD," said Dr Allen Taylor, a director of the research team.

"We feel we have identified a risk factor that could postpone the debilitating loss of vision with very little economic or personal hardship. Based on our data, limited refined carbohydrates intake, such as by limiting sweetened drinks or exchanging white bread for whole wheat, in at-risk elderly could reduce the number of advanced AMD cases by 8 percent in five years. This can equate to saving the sight of approximately 100,000 people."