Eat Right, Save Your Eyes
You already know that eating the right foods can save your heart. Did you know that it can also save your eyes?
Seeing Diet Clearly
The eyes you are using to read this sentence are made up of the food you eat. Emerging research is showing that what you eat has the profound ability to influence how well your eyes function.
Not Just Carrots For Seeing In The Dark
My mom always used to tell me that I should eat lots of carrots because they would help me see in the dark. She was right on with this piece of advice. Carrots have a ton of Vitamin A-the vitamin that helps your eyes see in dark conditions. However, we are learning that the nutrition and eyesight connection is not confined to carrots and darkness.
Slow Your Eyes From Aging
Whether you’ve heard of it or not, macular degeneration (MD) is the #1 cause of blindness in the US. It turns out that the best way to prevent this debilitating condition is to eat certain foods.
The reason carrots aid in eyesight is because Vitamin A forms a pigment, beta-carotene, that’s necessary for seeing in dark conditions. Your eye actually has a number of important pigments that it needs to function best. Your body cannot make these, so it relies on getting them from food.
The most important is lutein. Lutein doesn’t get a lot of press, but it should-not getting enough lutein is a sure fire way to get MD. Lutein is a pigment that gives vegetables an orange color. This pigment literally gets absorbed into our bodies and gets planted into our eyes. Lutein acts as a bullet-proof vest, taking the brunt of light damage for our vulnerable eyes.
Where can you find lutein?
- Leafy Greens
- Egg Yolks
- Corn
- Brussel Sprouts
- Peas
Get Fish Eyes
Add eyesight protection to the amazing properties of Omega-3 fatty acids. Those that eat 2 or more servings per week of fatty fish are much less likely to develop MD.
It appears that omega-3s actually protect the retina from damage and help the eyes flush out waste. Also, just like your heart, your eyes have arteries that are prone to inflammation and plaque build up. Omega-3s are well known inflammation fighters, and this effect applies to your eyes as well.
If high cholesterol or blood pressure hasn’t motivated you to eat more vegetables and omega-3s, perhaps the inctenvie of a lifetime of crystal clear eyesight will.
Brian Dean MS, RD is a registered dietitian and researcher. After years of research, Brian has set his sights on helping those with lower back pain. He serves on the Medical Nutrition Committee for The American Society for Nutrition and is a professional member of numerous research organizations including the International Association for The Study of Pain, American Chronic Pain Society, and The American Dietetic Association. He recently created a research-based lower back pain treatment program called The Back Pain Diet which is available from his website Stop Lower Back Pain.
Thank you for the informative article! What I found interesting is that in Chinese medicine the eyesight is a property of healthy blood. So when person is blood deficient their eyes get weak, vision is blurry, hair are thinning, and nails are brittle. Of course there is always Chinese diagnostics by pulse and tongue to support the symptoms.
The leafy greens and brussel sprouts are amongst the most important foods recommended in cases of blood deficiency.
Person can get blood deficient due to many causes. The most obvious ones are trauma with massive blood loss, surgery, childbirth. Sometimes it can be a result of being vegetarian and not keeping balanced diet. Teenage girls sometimes are candidates for being blood deficient due to heavy menstrual periods and refusal to eat well.
Amongst other recommendations I often suggest to my patients with blood deficiency (and no contraindication for leafy greens) to get bitter greens powder and mix them into the morning shake or berry juice. Of course fresh is better but with our busy lifestyle the powder will do too.