Eating sweet stuff is harmful for the eyesight. Is this true?

01/07/2016

My daughter loves sweets  and chocolate, but I was told that eating sweet stuff is harmful for the eyesight. Is this true?

It’s very unlikely that eating sweeties will affect your eyesight strictly and exclusively. What it can do is wreak havoc with the child’s metabolism increasing the risk of dental caries, obesity and type 1 diabetes or insulin dependent diabetes, which may harm your eyesight in the future.

Poor sugar metabolism management from an early age could be catastrophic for the eyesight as an adult as you could develop proliferative diabetic retinopathy, an illness which can cause blindness.

Each year 70,000 children under the age of 14 develop diabetes. Because of this, consumption of sweeties, chocolate and ice-creams must be monitored. It’s important that parents and children are aware of this: we can enjoy these foods in moderation without putting our health at risk.

Dra. María Iglesias

Ophthalmologist