Myopia (Short-sightedness) – enigma unravelled……

When I (Author – Mr. Pushparaj Ghodke) was almost 14 years old, I sensed that I had a blurred vision. Actually, I found that I had a myopia of minus 1.5 dioptre. I had to unwillingly wear glasses to correct myopia and see the things very clearly. But when I was almost 25 years old, I found that my myopia is progressing with the rate of minus 0.25 dioptre per year. When I was 35 years old I had a myopia of minus 5 dioptre. And one year ago in November 2021, when I was almost 49 years old, I had minus 9 dioptre myopia and since then during last 12 months my myopia did not progressed. Now I am almost 50 years old.

I was always interested in knowing the reason for progressive myopia. I extensively studied scientific literature for past 30 years. I experimented a lot about how to stop progressive myopia. I tried every trick and trade mentioned in the scientific literature known to stop progressive myopia but I failed miserably. But, only recently, one year ago, through a colossal scientific literature survey in world’s leading languages, I have drawn most important conclusions and discovered authentic facts about progressive myopia.

The reason is that I have discovered a simple health hack which completely stops progressive myopia in adults. What is this health hack? Very simple. A sufficiently longer break between the solid food intake. No frequent snacking throughout the day. In my opinion, the solid food intake break should be at least 18 hours to 24 hours. Intermittent fasting do stop progressive myopia in adults. This is a new discovery by me.

I eat once in 24 hours and undergo 36 hours of fasting every weekend. This completely stopped my progressive myopia. A sufficiently longer break between solid food intake will reboot insulin sensitivity to initial levels to avoid the ill effects of high carbohydrates and high insulin response diet. In-between the longer food break, you are not allowed to consume solid food but, you can drink a small cup of mildly sweet tea or unsweetened tea, herbal tea, green tea or coffee. This kind of dietary regime will not only stop progressive myopia but has an innumerable number of health benefits.

The reason for myopia is not excessive reading or reading habits but improper nutritional habits. Eye exercises won’t help either, although these eye exercises do relax eye muscles.

Most famous William Bates Method is a total failure. In 2002, American evolutionary biologist Loren Cordain for the first time linked nutritional habits to appearance of myopia. But, he was partially correct. Loren Cordain solely blamed the type of food i.e. consumption of a food item having higher insulin index. But, Cordain ignored the insulin lowering effect of intermittent fasting. The crux of the matter is that, both – type of food and a break between solid food intake – determine the baseline insulin in the blood.

If you are going to a party at night where there are lots of mouth watering food products such as easily digestible carbohydrates, sweet confessionaries, sugary soft drinks – then eat everything whatever you want full of stomach. But, thereafter, take a food break for 36 hours. This longer food break will reboot insulin sensitivity to initial levels to avoid the ill effects of mouth watering heavy party dinner. You can also prepare for upcoming heavy party dinner with at least 24 hours fasting prior to party dinner. There is no need to follow any kind of popular diet regime (Paleo, Keto, Atkins, Ducan, DASH, South beach, Mediterranean etc.) Just a sufficiently longer break between solid food intake is sufficient for adults. Most popular diet regimes are dominantly very low carbohydrate in nature. But, the major disadvantage of popular diet regimes is that, they lack the most essential thing – a sufficiently longer food break.

So, How to stop progressive myopia?

1) For children and adolescents – As per currently prevailing conceptions in scientific literature – any kind of intermittent fasting is contraindicated. (because intermittent fasting may result in stunted growth in children and adolescents according to currently prevailing conceptions in scientific literature) So, children and adolescents are allowed to consume solid food upto four times a day (but, not more than four solid food intakes per day). Eliminate or considerably minimize easily digestible carbohydrates in the diet. Instead include more fresh vegetables and fruits with minimum heat treatment, natural sources of proteins and fats having less insulin response. Limit the amount of milk and milk products (except butter) in the diet. This type of food regime will also stop tooth decay in children. In short, children and adolescents can resort to so-called popular paleo diet food products with some modifications to stop myopia progressing.

2) For adults everything is simple. For adults whose physical growth has been already completed but are suffering from progressive myopia (may be 18 years or above). The solid food intake break should be at least 18 hours to 24 hours for adults. No frequent snacking throughout the day. Go through 36 hours of fasting per week. This should easily stop progressive myopia in adults. Not only this will stop progressive myopia but innumerable other important health benefits for adults. Proper nutritional habits such as any kind of regular intermittent fasting will avoid or minimize the impact of diseases of civilization and lead a healthy lifestyle, slow down aging process and prolong lifespan for almost 20 years.

Frequent spikes in the blood sugar throughout the day due to frequent snacking leads to insulin resistance which manifest in elongation of eyeball. For successfully combating the increase in insulin resistance and improvement of insulin sensitivity, we must take sufficiently longer breaks between solid food intake to lower baseline insulin. Sufficiently longer break between solid food intake will reboot the insulin sensitivity to initial levels.

Myopia myth

Excessive reading and close work causes myopia (Short-sightedness) is a total myth. Myopia is a disease of civilization resulting from improper nutritional habits (frequent and regular consumption of easily digestible carbohydrates, high insulin response food items in the large portion of our diet). In the Mumbai schools, it is estimated that, almost 30% of school going children from age 10 to 18 are affected by myopia. In the cities such as Tokyo, Shanghai and Singapore, almost 80%;to 90% of school going children are affected by myopia. During puberty, the level of IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) increases under the influence of growth hormone. This process is accelerated with frequent and regular consumption of refined carbohydrates and high insulin response food items in the puberty period. Thus, due to excessive IGF-1, the eyeball becomes excessively long, which ultimately leads to such an ophthalmic problem as the development of myopia. Excessive insulin triggers an increase in free IGF-1, a hormone that regulates tissue growth. Insulin has been shown in animal models to promote elongation of the eyeball, whereas insulin’s antagonist, glucagon, has been shown to promote hyperopia (shortening of the eyeball) IGF-1 is a hormone similar in molecular structure to insulin. It plays an important role in childhood growth and continues to have anabolic effects (increased size of organs) in adults.

Dr. William Bates (1860-1931) was a leading New York ophthalmologist, authored the best seller book “Perfect Sight Without Glasses” in 1920. This book has been reprinted as “Better Eyesight Without Glasses”, and is still a best seller in any leading international bookstores today. But, the methods mentioned in this book is total falsehood and a clear wastage of time. William Bates also edited “Better Eyesight” magazine.

Eye exercises has little or no impact on myopia. Eye exercises are better for relaxation and for removal of fatigue but not for any vision improvement. Correcting and controlling nutrition immediately prevents the progressive myopia.

In the year 2002, American experts mentioned that, excessive consumption of fast carbohydrates in diet is responsible for developing myopia. Scientists from the University of Colorado at Fort Collins and the University of Sydney have established that, myopia can be a consequence of excessive and regular consumption of white bread in childhood, and the risk from this is much greater than from reading too close. The researchers say that if the diet includes a large amount of simple carbohydrates, in particular, a lot of white bread or white rice, insulin levels in children increase significantly, excessive amounts of which lead to a stretching of the eyeball in length, causing myopia.

Due to the excessive use of refined flour products and white rice, the human body produces excess insulin. As a result, the eyeball suffers – it undergoes certain changes, lengthens, which can lead to the development of myopia.The fact is that when you eat simple carbohydrate-rich foods, in the body, insulin rises, which causes the lengthening of the eyeball. Since then, news title “White bread is responsible for myopia” began to appear in media very frequently. The absence or low content of fibers in the food item immediately raises blood sugar after its consumption.

White bread, refined white rice, all types of bakery products made from refined wheat flour, sweet confectionaries spike blood sugar dramatically within few minutes of consumption, while slow carbohydrates including most vegetables, moderately sweet fruits and legumes have a smaller effect. Nutritionists have named a list of products that spoil vision. White bread made from premium wheat flour is at the top of the list. The huge amount of refined starch in the product affects the production of excess insulin by the pancreas, which can cause myopia to develop.

In adolescence, lovers of buns and breads have an elongated eyeball and as a result, myopia appears. According to the study, about 30 percent of Europeans today suffer from refractive errors. Over the past 200 years, the number of people with this eye condition has increased significantly.

In addition, it has been shown that myopia is more likely to develop in people who are prediabetics people and patients with type II diabetes mellitus. Both of these disorders are associated with elevated insulin levels. Myopia develops more slowly in those children who consume more protein.

Loren Cordain, a biologist at the University of Colorado, said: “In the Vanutau Islands (in the Pacific), children spend up to eight hours a day in school. Currently, the incidence of myopia is only 2%. He clarified that the difference between the European and local diets is that the Vanutau Islands mainly eat fish, sweet potatoes and coconuts, rather than refined flour products.

Excessive reading does not cause myopia

You probably paid attention to how often you can meet children with glasses these days? Over the past two hundred years, myopia, or short-sightedness, has spread dramatically in developed countries. In the United States, 25-35% of the European population suffers from myopia and up to 50% of the Asian population.

It is generally accepted that excessive reading causes myopia in children, since in those countries in which there were no official curricula and children did not read books, myopia was found only in 2% of cases. Scientist studies found that myopia developed in one in three children who lived in cities and went to school. Similar results have given grounds for suggesting that reading books invokes myopia. It is for this reason that glasses have long been considered a sign of an intelligent person, and in films, for example, in the mid-twentieth century, smart children always wore glasses.

But once the following anomaly was discovered: there are states in the world where there are few cases of myopia despite the presence of compulsory educational programs, or vice versa – myopia developed among children who did not go to school in the civilized world. Thus, how can one explain that reading causes myopia if the level of myopia has been kept low in a society that has adopted Western lifestyle rather than eating habits?

Myopia is a human disease. In the animal world, it was not known until domesticated dogs appeared. And since dogs don’t read books, it’s impossible to explain the cause of myopia by reading. The direct link between myopia and domestic dogs is nutrition – wild dogs eat meat and do not get myopia, but people feed their pets with dog biscuits made from refined wheat flour and sugar.