A new study has found that eating vegetable nitrates, found mainly in green leafy vegetables and beetroot, could prevent macular degeneration, a common cause of vision loss in people over age 50. The study has been published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The researchers interviewed more than 2,000 Australian adults aged over 49 and followed them over a 15-year period for the study. According to the research findings, people who ate between 100 to 142 mgs (milligrams) of vegetable nitrates each day had a 35 per cent lower risk of developing early age-related macular degeneration