Macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss in the United States. Environmental causes and eating habits have much to do with the health of our eyes.
Modern day life is unhealthy in many ways. We are far too sedentary, which make us heavier than we should be. Being overweight makes us more likely to become diabetic, a disease that can ravage eye health.
We also stare at digital displays for extended periods of time. This constant staring at iPads, smart phones, computer screens and TV’s is taking a toll on the health of our eyes. Because we are in constant visual contact with our gadgets, we spend too much time indoors, instead of being out enjoying nature and moving our bodies, which can lead to obesity. This vicious circle can be broken if we just put our bodies in motion and make healthy food choices.
In making these healthy food choices, we should seek out the foods that contain the vitamins and minerals that our eyes crave.
Vitamin A and Carrots: Carrots are rich in beta carotene, and beta carotene is converted into to vitamin A in the human body. Vitamin A is extremely important in keeping our eyes healthy. Throughout the world a lack of vitamin A is the primary cause of blindness.
Carrots also contain the antioxidant lutein, which can increase the pigment density in the region of the eye called the macula. The better the pigment density in the macula, the better protected your retina is against suffering macular degeneration.
Carrots aren’t the only foods that contain beneficial beta carotene. Seek out other orange fleshed foods to consume to get more beta carotene.
Lutein and Spinach: As mentioned above, lutein is a key antioxidant for eye health. Spinach, as well as other green leafy vegetables such as avocado, kale, broccoli, peas, swiss chard, brussels sprouts, turnip greens, collard greens, romaine lettuce, zucchini, kiwi, corn and goji berries. Note that cooking reduces the amount of beneficial lutein available in our diets. So, eat these foods in their raw form whenever possible. If you don’t like the raw taste of these foods, just steam them quickly to retain as much lutein as possible.
To emphasize just how important a role that diet plays into our eye health, Dr. Ian Murray, the lead researcher at Manchester’s Faculty of Life Sciences says: “Since macular pigment is wholly derived from our diet, we would expect that eating foods containing high levels of these compounds increases macular pigment and so helps slow the degenerative process.”
Vitamin E: Vitamin E protects the eye’s cells (along with the rest of the body’s cells) from damage caused by free radicals which harm healthy tissue. Vitamin E can help to fend off macular degeneration and cataracts.
Healthy sources of Vitamin E are almonds, hazelnuts, olive oil, avocados and avocado oil, soybean oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, peanut butter, cereals and sweet potatoes.
Vitamin C: Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that benefits our bloodstream and capillary health, which supply the necessary oxygen and nutrients that our eyes require.
Vitamin C is found is its natural form almost exclusively in fruits and vegetables. Good sources of vitamin C are guavas, oranges and orange juice, grapefruit and grapefruit juice, lemons, limes, cantaloupe, papaya, pineapple, raw tomatoes, cooked spinach, peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, vegetable juice, strawberry, kiwi, bananas, apples and peaches.
Vitamin D: While being outdoors in the sunlight can be harmful to our eyes if we are not wearing sunglasses, the paradox is that the vitamin D we receive from the sun is very beneficial to eye health. Research has shown that once sunlight has reached our skin, it creates vitamin D3 on our skin’s surface. It takes approximately 48 hours this vitamin D3 to be completely absorbed through our skin to reach the bloodstream where it can begin to do its beneficial work. Two things affect the availability of this sunlight to be converted to useable vitamin D: 1.) Our skin will only absorb the beneficial sunlight if not covered by sunscreen, and 2.) The area of the skin that was exposed to this beneficial sunlight is not washed with soap.
To get the full benefit of the vitamin D that you gained while outdoors, gently rinse the sun exposed areas of the skin with plain water and use soap on the areas that we not exposed to the sunlight.
Always use sunscreen on the thin skinned areas of the body that are the most highly susceptible to burning that are exposed to the sun – the skin around the eyes, on the forehead and skull, on the nose, finally on and around the ears.
Never overexpose your skin to direct sunlight! In this case, less is more. Someone who hasn’t been in the sun without sunscreen and whose skin is very light colored, will likely burn very easily while outdoors unprotected. Start with small periods of sunlight exposure and build up a tan over time. This tan will help keep you from becoming burned. After your tan is in place, just go about your outdoor activities normally, using sunscreen on the thin skinned areas of the body, and showering appropriately as discussed above. Do not think that spending a whole weekend baking your skin in the sun is going to benefit your health! This is a process that needs to be done slowly to allow your body to acclimate itself to being in the sun by gradually building up a tan a little at a time.
Omega 3’s: Research has shown the important of omega 3 fatty acids in preventative eye health. These healthy fats can help prevent the onset of macular degeneration and dry eye syndrome. Omega 3’s may also help to prevent high eye pressure, which can damage the optical nerve, and glaucoma.
Besides fish and flax seeds, a good source of omega 3’s is walnuts. Eat a handful of walnuts each day, either as a snack, or simply on top of cereal to gain their health benefits.
During Work Hours: It is very easy to strain your eyes when working. Whenever reading or using a keyboard be sure to have a sufficient light source to illuminate the book or work surface.
Staring too long at a digital display also stresses our eyes. A good habit to adopt the 20/20 rule: work for 20 minutes, and then shift your focus to an object at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds or more. Our eyes do not like to focus on one spot for long periods of time. By looking away at something in the distance, it forces our eyes to change focus and relieves stress.
Sunglasses and Cataracts: The same harsh sunlight that burns our skin, is also Enemy #1 to our eyes. It is important that whenever spending time outdoors that we wear sunglasses. Choose sunglasses that block, at minimum, 99% of both UVA and UVB rays.
It is important that we wear our sunglasses even on overcast days, as UV ray do pass through clouds and can have a harmful effect on our eyes. It would be beneficial to have two pairs of sunglasses, both with UVA and UVB blocking abilities of 99% or greater – one dark pair for sunny days, and a lighter shaded pair for cloudy days.