Emma Miller
An interesting and curious relationship is whether drinking a frothy drink poses a danger to human vision. Consumption of large amounts of caffeine increases the risk of glaucoma by more than three times for people who are genetically predisposed to high eye pressure (here). П
The danger of coffee for vision was revealed by scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center (USA). Experts analyzed records of more than 120 thousand participants collected from 2006 to 2010. The volunteers, who also provided DNA samples, were aged 39 to 73. They filled out dietary questionnaires, noting how many caffeinated beverages they drink daily, as well as what caffeinated foods they consume and in what portions. The researchers took into account the presence of glaucoma in the family history
However, for a quarter of the volunteers who were found to have the highest genetic predisposition to glaucoma, a love of coffee and caffeinated products was associated with a high risk of developing glaucoma.
In particular, consuming more than 480 milligrams of coffee per day (roughly equivalent to four cups of coffee) contributed to an eye pressure of 0.35 millimeters of mercury. At high genetic risk, consuming about three cups of coffee a day increased the risk of glaucoma by 3.9 times compared to those who consumed minimal or no caffeine.
