Warning to instant coffee drinkers amid 'significant' link to eye disease
Chinese reserachers have said they discovered a statistically significant correlation between consumption of instant coffee and common degenerative disorder AMD
Instant coffee drinkers have been handed a new warning by researchers who have discovered the beverage could be linked to a condition that robs people of their sight.
Scientists from the Chinese Hubei University of Medicine have warned that people at high risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) should avoid slugging down the popular beverage, which accounts for roughly 13 percent of worldwide coffee consumption. An increasing number of people are living with the eye condition, which affects around 200 million people around the world at present, with 88 million more expected to be diagnosed with the disease in the next 15 years.
While it mostly impacts the sharpness of people's eyesight when they reach their 50s, Hubei researchers have found that instant coffee is a potential exacerbating influence.
Scientists found a significant statistical link between dry AMD disorder and the drink after studying the genetic data of more than 500,000 people. Corresponding author Siwei Liu, from the the university's Department of Ophthalmology at the Shiyan Taihe Hospital, said the results showed a "genetic correlation" not seen in decaffeinated or non-instant coffee.
She said: "Our results revealed a genetic correlation between instant coffee consumption and dry AMD. Instant coffee may increase the risk of AMD, and reducing its intake could help prevent dry AMD."
The scientist added that people deemed "at high risk for AMD" should "avoid instant coffee". Researchers believe that AMD is caused by a combination of factors, including diet, smoking habits and genes, with people likely to be more at risk of the disease if they have family members who suffer from it.
People are also more at risk later in life, if they are white, obese, or if they suffer from cardiovascular disease, which affects the heart and blood vessels.
Symptoms of AMD usually include noticeable loss of sight but not total blindness, with signs of the disease typically including:
Visual disturbances like distorted lines and other features
Shrinking central vision in one or both eyes
Requiring brighter light when reading or working up close
Difficulty adapting to dimming lights - such as in a cinemas or dimly lit restaurants
Printed words seem increasingly blurry
Impaired ability to recognise faces
A blurry or blind spot within the field of vision that appears well-defined
The Chinese researchers used data from diagnoses of AMD in the UK and additional statistics from the UK Biobank, which details how people consume coffee. Details included in the bank include whether the coffee was instant, ground or decaffeinated, and how much coffee people drank in total.
While scientists found a correlation between AMD and instant coffee, they have stressed the results do not immediately indicate that coffee consumption can directly cause the disorder.
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