About Me

Matt Murray is co-owner and manager for GreenAcres Market in Wichita, Kansas. From 1996 until 2002 Matt was co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show, HealthTalk with Shannon and Matt. Current activities involve writing health-related articles for local magazines and newspapers, seminars and speaking engagements.

Active in lobbying for the natural products industry in Washington, D.C., Matt was president of Rocky Mountain Nutritional Foods Association and a member of the national board for NNfA from 2002 through 2006.

Consumer education, advertising and promotions are the key elements for store growth so he spends time on newsletter development and in-store activities.

Vitamins Help over Time - Cataracts slowed in Long-term users!

October 09, 2006

Vitamin E and the B-vitamins riboflavin (B-2) and thiamine (B-1) may slow the progress of age-related cataracts. Cataracts occur when the lens of the eye becomes opaque preventing light from passing through and can lead to blindness. Currently, surgery is the only method for preventing blindness due to cataracts.

Researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, tracked the supplements over 400 women took during a 15-year period. The women, aged 52 to 74, were already enrolled in the ongoing Nurses Health Study, initiated in 1976, one of the largest and most authoritative studies of womenÌs health.

After the 15-year data-gathering period, researchers examined the eyes of the women to determine the degree of age-related opacity (decreased transparency). Cataracts were significantly less developed in those women who reported taking vitamin E for ten years or more compared to those who did not take supplements. Researchers also found a similar result in women who reported taking more riboflavin and thiamine compared to other women in the study who reposted taking less of these tow B vitamins.

An earlier phase of the study, reported in the Archives of Ophthalmology in 2001, examined the same women and found less progress of cataracts in those who had taken vitamin C compared to those who did not take vitamins. The Tufts researchers believe that, over the long term, vitamin E, riboflavin and thiamine may reduce the progress of age-related cataracts.

Reference: Archives of Ophthalmology; 2005, Vol. 123, 517-26.