Efforts to deal with the rising incidence of myopia in the world are focused on its causes and preventive action, but what if this was to consider diet and insulin resistance as well?

Cases of myopia have been rising in recent years (Fricke et al, 2018 ) and are predicted to continue to do so, with some estimating that almost half the world will be myopic by 2050 (Poteet, 2020 ).

The reason for myopia rates rising so fast in recent years is likely to be a combination of genetics and environmental influences, and could be due to changing lifestyle factors, according to a recently published report commissioned by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (2024). Rates were rising especially quickly in high-income countries and those with rapid developments in urbanisation, industry, and technology.

The widely accepted risk factors of myopia centre on genetic and environmental factors (World Health Organization, 2015): these include parents who are short-sighted; greater time spent reading and a longer period in full-time education; and using a computer, playing video games or spending greater amounts of time on smart devices than being physically active outdoors.

Myopia typically results from excessive axial length elongation (Meng et al, 2011), with refractive myopia, resulting from excessive corneal curvature, less common.