By age 65, over 90% of people in the US will develop cataracts. By age 75, their cataracts can really affect their vision. The total number of people who have cataracts is estimated to increase to 30.1 million by 2020.
But what is a cataract? We are sure that most of you understand its consequences are but might not know how this condition really starts. A cataract is an opaque layer of proteins that accumulate on top of the lens and blur vision.
Now back to our numbers. 30 millions people affected it by 2020, that's a bounty for cataract surgeons, let's admit it. Please also consider that 90% at some point will get it. Yes, it is an(other) industry onto itself, with clients always lining up endlessly. So why the heck, would we need a natural treatment that could avoid many patients a surgery?
Lanosterol is a protein that any living creatures, with eyes obviously, produce as successful tests were conducted on rabbits and dogs. Lanosterol used directly on human lenses in in vitro experiments has been too very fruitful, and since 2015 scientists are said to race together to set up human trials so that surgery will be soon a thing of the past.... do you really believe that?
Or is there an all too powerful "Cataract Inc" preventing from making it happen? Considering the long history of so many natural treatments being suppressed, Earth Custodians really lean toward another similar case here.
There is too much profit to make as usual. Medicine for profit will continue until we abolish the tool allowing insane profits to be made: monetarism. And then you have to wonder beyond that. In the developing world, the problem is compounded because most don't have a healthcare nor are rich enough to be able to resort to surgery. The elderly become a burden for the whole family, which already have so many difficulties to go by. In such countries, cataracts are a real ordeal, even if people happen to die sooner than in the West we shouldn't jump to such comparisons.
Every human was born with the birthrights to live as long as possible and in a coercion-free environment. It is time for humanity to stand up... we will never stress that enough...
July 2015 Lanosterol reverses protein aggregation in cataracts
The human lens is comprised largely of crystallin proteins assembled into a highly ordered, interactive macro-structure essential for lens transparency and refractive index. Any disruption of intra- or inter-protein interactions will alter this delicate structure, exposing hydrophobic surfaces, with consequent protein aggregation and cataract formation. Cataracts are the most common cause of blindness worldwide, affecting tens of millions of people1, and currently the only treatment is surgical removal of cataractous lenses. The precise mechanisms by which lens proteins both prevent aggregation and maintain lens transparency are largely unknown. Lanosterol is an amphipathic molecule enriched in the lens. It is synthesized by lanosterol synthase (LSS) in a key cyclization reaction of a cholesterol synthesis pathway. Here we identify two distinct homozygous LSS missense mutations (W581R and G588S) in two families with extensive congenital cataracts. Both of these mutations affect highly conserved amino acid residues and impair key catalytic functions of LSS. Engineered expression of wild-type, but not mutant, LSS prevents intracellular protein aggregation of various cataract-causing mutant crystallins. Treatment by lanosterol, but not cholesterol, significantly decreased preformed protein aggregates both in vitro and in cell-transfection experiments. We further show that lanosterol treatment could reduce cataract severity and increase transparency in dissected rabbit cataractous lenses in vitro and cataract severity in vivo in dogs. Our study identifies lanosterol as a key molecule in the prevention of lens protein aggregation and points to a novel strategy for cataract prevention and treatment. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14650
A new dawn for cataracts (2015) Summary
Cataract, a clouding of the eye lens, is the major cause of blindness in the world, accounting for about 20 million cases (1). Treatment is surgical—the opaque, cataractous lens is replaced with an artificial, plastic one. Many people in the developing world become blind due to cataracts because of a lack of medical resources. A new drug treatment for cataracts based on eye drops would remove this obstacle, as current agents and dietary recommendations are generally ineffective. The findings of Makley et al. (2) reported on page 674 of this issue, and by Zhao et al. (3) may substantially boost the cataract pharmacopoeia. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/350/6261/636
They have come up with a drug that is to be taken in the form of an eye drop. The lanosterol eye drop drug was first tested on human lenses (lenses not attached to any human body) and proved to be very successful. They found a decrease in cataract size in the human lens.... Scientists from all over the world have entered the race to find a safe eye drop that can dissolve cataracts. With human trials being conducted in the near future, we can all hope for a better solution to treating and curing cataracts.(2019) https://www.rebuildyourvision.com/blog/vision-conditions/cataracts/new-eye-drops-dissolve-cataracts/
The cost of lanosterol drops would be much lower than the cost of cataract surgery. Millions of dollars are spent by patients, insurance companies and government health care to pay ophthalmologists and co-managing optometrists to remove cataracts surgically.... Scientists caution that more research is needed before deeming the drops a reliable and viable treatment for cataracts in humans. (2015) https://www.verywellhealth.com/eye-drops-for-cataracts-3421711