For modern cooks, rosemary is best known as the perfect herb to pair with a good roast chicken or lamb. But as with other herbs, it also has powerful and ancient medicinal properties. Modern science is catching up to what the ancients knew. One scientific study finds that a compound in rosemary promotes eye health and may even protect against age-related macular degeneration.
Reporting in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, a team of scientists from Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute led by Stuart A. Lipton, M.D., Ph.D. discovered that carnosic acid, a component of the herb rosemary, protects your retina from degeneration and toxicity.
What Is Age-Related Macular Degeneration?
Age-related macular degeneration is the most common eye disease in the U.S. It affects close to 11 million Americans, most over the age of 50. According to the American Health Assistance Foundation, macular degeneration causes deterioration of the central area of the retina, resulting in blind spots and blurred or distorted vision. One-third of people over the age of 76 suffer from the condition.
The underlying cause of macular degeneration is not known but some of the risk factors include smoking, sun exposure, high blood pressure and obesity. Genetics are believed to play a role in most cases.
Some earlier studies had suggested that the disease might be slowed by antioxidants that fight free radicals. That’s where rosemary comes in.
In this study, Lipton and his colleagues found that retinal cells treated with carnosic acid found in rosemary triggered the production of antioxidant enzymes in the cells. That in turn lowered cell-damaging free radicals.
They also tested carnosic acid in animals, finding that mice treated with it suffered less vision damage whden exposed to light.
