You can add yet another item to the ever-increasing list of health problems that result from smoking. According to scientists, the risk of late age-related macular degeneration (thinning in part of the retina that causes partial blindness) is higher for those who smoke, or have smoked in the past.

In fact, current smokers are four times more likely to develop the condition than their non-smoking counterparts, and former smokers were three times more likely than those who never picked up the habit.

I have the feeling that, before long, scientist will prove that cigarettes are actually full of malignant little demons that run around your body, destroying everything can find.

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A recent study found that a diet high in refined sugar was linked to age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The condition, which usually comes on later in life, affects the retina and can cause vision loss. The study found that those who had a high sugar diet were more likely to have AMD, while those with a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, as well as low-gycemic foods, had a lower incidence of the condition. This doesn't prove that diet causes AMD, but it does show a connection between diet and eye health.

Just one more reason to pay attention to what you're eating!

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Did you know that smoking caused blindness? In the UK, where 20% of young women and 15% of young men smoke, only 2% of those smokers know that their habit increases their risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) -- the number one cause of sight loss.

However, when young smokers are aware of this side effect, they fear it more than any other. 90% of young smokers interviewed in a recent survey said they'd give up smoking at the first sign of vision loss, and -- while they rated their fear of lung cancer at only 3 out of 5, the smokers rated sight loss at 4 out of 5.

Smoking and AMD were linked conclusively in 2005, in findings that showed smokers to be twice as likely to develop the condition.

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