Comments on: Why Are 90% of Asian Schoolchildren Nearsighted? From Doing What You're Doing Now

By: floodmouse

floodmouse — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:54:10 +0000

Everything I was taught really IS wrong! I was a bookworm and I was one of the only kids with glasses, and my parents insisted reading had nothing to do with bad eyesight, it was all genetics. This study only proves correlation, not causation, but I’ll bet a cause-and-effect relationship does turn up after further study. Environment and lifestyle choices turn out to affect almost every physical attribute. Most of the time, blaming your body on genetics is just a cop-out.

By: Four-Eyes

Four-Eyes — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:19:09 +0000

Even more mysterious is why spectacles are so expensive considering how simple the technology involved is and the kind of materials used!

By: Dave G

Dave G — Tue, 15 May 2012 05:38:31 +0000

@ Red the Fister

No need to be rude, Red. Jay is dead right … any study of environmental causative factors in any field of physiology has to include diet – even if only to filter it out of the other data. It is you , Red, who is confused between hypothesis and theory. Go read your Grade 8 Science text book.

By: Simon Sanjaya

Simon Sanjaya — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:37:17 +0000

Since I was a yunior high school I did a bit massage around my eyes after a long time reading. So my eyes were normal until I graduated from university. Several years ago I invented THERAPY RUN, a little part of the Therapy run is massaging around eyes while running. So in my age 48 now my eyes were still normal. I would like to suggest in every learning classes school there was 2 minutes time for massaging around students eyes by themself every day.
Good luck.

By: Nik Edmiidz

Nik Edmiidz — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:40:55 +0000

Or you could try not reading and using TTS to consume text-content, like blind people do… I hate reading…

By: Red the Fister

Red the Fister — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:54:32 +0000

@Jay Fox

You do realize that the only reason i’m posting this is because you come across as a shill for the Free Range/Organic Foods “Industry.”

Yes, our diets suck. Yes, overly refined foods are not nearly as healthful as un-refined foods. Yes, even on a free-range organic diet it is impossible to attain “perfect” nutrition: there are simply far too many nutrients that come from far too wide a range of foods for us to consume all of them daily without supplementation.

that said, i take issue with, “Those Inuits were not only introduced to public education, but the western diet at the same time. Any discussion leaving out the role of proper diet is incomplete.”

Correlation does not equal Causation.
Site your References. Preferably from a respected, peer-reviewed journal.

By: Vince

Vince — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:47:41 +0000

Absolutely , would I like a geneticist to weigh in here , for instance in the Inuit study how would any one really know whether one was near sighted when the culture had no mechanism of reporting it until the study came along ? interbreeding with more genetic variables is the reason for increased occurrences ,My suspicion ,in Asian societies there was a starting point of a tendency of near sightedness ,enhanced by social mobility with the genetic variability sky rocketing the number of near sighted births in a shorter period of time , yes the additional factors are valid but only augment the already established genetic fact of near sightedness

By: Jay Fox

Jay Fox — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:30:14 +0000

The western diet plays a significant role. As we continue to refine all the vitamins and minerals from our food supply, malnutrition limits proper development. Lack of sufficient vitamin A has been shown to promote myopia.

Those Inuits were not only introduced to public education, but the western diet at the same time. Any discussion leaving out the role of proper diet is incomplete.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:52:26 +0000

So I wonder if this means that an increase in reading could directly result in an increased amount of success in higher education in those areas (I think that would make sense)? And taking that one step further, what would the data show for countries like the US, where our education system is continually, and rightfully, criticized? It would also be interesting to see how the increase in myopia is related to social networking patterns, since, as stated, it is implied that children are spending less time outside with friends and more time alone with books and computers.

By: Cody

Cody — Sun, 13 May 2012 15:27:58 +0000

I recall a study from several years ago in which it was suggested that a gene regulating eyeball growth was causing many cases of nearsightedness. The hypothesis was that in nature the gene would have correctly caused the eyeball to continue growing under conditions in which it did not focus properly, but that in modern societies where reading starts in childhood while the body is still developing, incorrectly triggers the gene into continued growth. It mentioned a study showing the incidence of nearsightedness jumped after the introduction of public education to Inuit societies.