Excitotoxins and Your Vision
Summerized from, "Avoid MSG and NutraSweet"
by Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD
Aging‑related blindness is rising at an alarming rate, and there are many reasons behind this devastating trend. One of the most overlooked involves excitotoxins—specifically MSG and aspartame.
Glutamate and Vision Loss
One of the leading causes of adult blindness is diabetes, especially insulin‑dependent (type 1) diabetes. Recent research shows that blindness in diabetics is linked to the destruction of retinal nerve cells by the amino acid glutamate.
Multiple studies have found that glutamate—an excitotoxin—accumulates in the vitreous humor (the gel-like substance in the back of the eye) in people with:
- Diabetes
- Macular degeneration
- Glaucoma
While some of this glutamate comes from damaged retinal cells and glial cells, there is growing concern about the extreme amounts of excitotoxins consumed in the modern diet, especially from:
- MSG
- Aspartame (which contains the excitotoxin aspartate and the neural eye toxin methanol, which breaks down into formaldehyde and formic acid)
Why the Eye Is So Vulnerable
Unlike the brain, the eye has no protective blood‑brain barrier. Anything circulating in the bloodstream—including excitotoxins—can enter the eye rapidly.
Studies show that after consuming foods containing excitotoxins, blood levels can spike up to 20‑fold. Even if excitotoxins don’t directly cause eye diseases, they accelerate them and make them far more severe.
Everyday Foods Can Trigger Damage
Imagine an elderly person eating a bowl of commercial soup and drinking a diet soda. That single meal may contain enough excitotoxins to damage both brain cells and retinal cells.
Some soups contain three or four different excitotoxin additives. Even when each additive is present at levels considered “safe,” combining them creates an additive neurotoxic effect—a phenomenon proven in laboratory studies.
Excitotoxins in Diabetic Eye Disease
In diabetics, vitreous glutamate levels are often significantly elevated, especially in proliferative diabetic retinopathy—the form most likely to cause blindness.
Animal studies show:
- A 40% increase in eye glutamate levels
- A 100% increase in lipid peroxidation (a marker of free‑radical damage linked to excitotoxicity)
Similar patterns appear in glaucoma. Today, excitotoxicity—not high eye pressure—is considered the primary cause of blindness in glaucoma. Elevated pressure reduces retinal blood flow, triggering the release of destructive glutamate.
A Growing Problem Fueled by the Food Industry
Glutamate excitotoxicity plays a major role in all of these conditions. Meanwhile, the food industry has been doubling the amount of added excitotoxins every decade since 1945.
- By 1972, 262,000 metric tons of MSG were added to processed foods.
- Aspartame now appears in over 4,000 products, consumed by more than 100 million people.
Ironically, the 17 million diabetics in the U.S. have been specifically targeted by marketing campaigns promoting aspartame‑sweetened products—despite the fact that aspartame poses unique dangers to diabetic vision.
No one should consume these products, but diabetics are especially vulnerable to their toxic effects.
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