Keeping Your Eyes Healthy Naturally

By: Dr. Grossman

When mom and dad told you to eat your carrots because they were good for your eyes, they were on the right track. As researchers continue to document that we really are what we eat, the role of nutrition in eye health becomes clearer and more important all the time.

In working with thousands of patients in my 25 years of practice I start my eye care prevention and treatment programs with a discussion with the patient regarding their diet. Consider these facts: more than 25 per cent of the nutrients we absorb from our food go to nourish our ?visual system?, our eyes and all of the nerves, blood vessels and tissues that support our vision. Indeed the concentration of Vitamin C in healthy eyes is higher than almost anywhere else in the body. It is not surprising then that proper nutrition plays an important role in preventing and treating problems such as cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma and dry eyes.

The diet plan we prescribe emphasizes a variety of whole foods with emphasis on fruits and vegetables. The body does not use each vitamin and mineral in isolation. The absence of one nutrient can affect the body’s ability to use another; for example, proper amounts of magnesium and vitamin D are needed to absorb and utilize calcium efficiently. Without adequate levels of zinc, the body cannot utilize all of the vitamin A it receives. Similarly, the B vitamins are needed together, working best as a team.

Eating a variety of whole foods and omitting processed sugar and other junk foods will help your body to get a wide range of nutrients. The body can lose a significant amount of nutrients when we eat nutrient poor foods. For example, we lose chromium and B vitamins as our body tries to burn white sugar. Therefore getting our nutrients if possible through healthy foods that we eat is a key to keeping good vision.

So what foods are the most important for eye health as mom told us? They are the fruits and vegetables. One study of over 100,000 people over a 12 to 18 year span at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that those who ate three or more servings of fruit a day were 36% less likely to develop age-related macula degeneration than people who ate less than 1.5 per day.

It was also found that lutein and zeaxanthin were some of the most important nutrients to help protect the eye from cataracts and macular degeneration. In the Eye Disease Case Control Study, researchers found a significantly lower risk for developing these eye diseases in people with high amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin in their blood. Also, people who ate a diet with the most lutein and zeaxanthin (as much as 5.8 milligrams (mg) per day) had a significantly lower risk for macula degeneration than those whose diet contained the least amount (as low as 1.2 mg per day). Dietary studies confirmed the association between frequent consumption of spinach or collard greens, which are good sources of lutein and zeaxanthin, in lowering macula degeneration risk.

Let me give you some examples of how diet can be used in a preventive program for eye disease.

Let?s use the eye condition Open-angle Glaucoma as an example. Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness around the world: The condition affects approximately 60 million people. Glaucoma is an eye condition that overtime can damage the optic nerve, resulting in loss of peripheral vision (side vision), sometimes to the point of blindness if not treated. The damage is due to having chronically high eye pressure (referred to as ?intraocular pressure?). Unless evaluated by an eye doctor, most cases of glaucoma have no symptoms associated with it until the person starts to notice a lessening in peripheral vision.

So, let?s say you are 56 years old and the eye doctor finds you have borderline high eye pressures of 26 and 27 mm/Hg (normal range is 10 to 22 mm/Hg). At this point the eye doctor will most likely give you a visual fields test that maps your peripheral vision, and will also check the health of the optic nerve. If your visual field and optic nerve are fine, the doctor will either just monitor it regularly or possibly give medication to lower the pressure. Eye doctors rarely consider natural ways to lower eye pressure in possibly preventing the need for medication. A program which includes dietary changes, nutritional supplementation such as omega 3 essential fatty acids, alpha lipoic acid and vitamin C, and physical exercise have all been shown by research to help lower eye pressure naturally without medication.

Macular degeneration is even more frustrating in terms of eye doctors not prescribing natural approaches. Numerous peer review studies show that macular degeneration is a disease responsive to specific nutritional protocols. Most of the time the doctor just says there is nothing that can be done except possibly lasering the blood vessels that are leaking in the case of wet macular degeneration. Hundreds and hundreds of studies have shown the benefits of a nutritional program emphasizing the cartenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, anti-oxidants, the amino acid taurine, along with the benefits of micro current stimulation to help reduce the risk and decrease the progression of macular degeneration.

Other Tips

Besides nutrition the following are some important recommendations to keep your eyes healthy:

1. Don’t keep your eyes focused in one place for a sustained period of time. Change your focus. Look up out a window periodically when your doing close work to give your eyes a break. Sustained contraction of the eyes can also lead to a contraction of your upper body and neck. Don’t stare continuously without breaks as that causes tension on the visual system, and can contribute to vision problems.

2. Get at least 20 minutes of natural sunlight a day. Go for a walk. The eyes are light sensing organs. It’s important to get enough sunlight so that they operate optimally. Wear UV protective sunglasses to protect your eyes from damaging sun rays.

3. Quit smoking! Smokers have a significantly higher risk of eye disease than non-smokers.

4. Reduce sugar and alcohol intake

Bell Peppers rich in Vitamin A

It's important to protect the eyes all the time, but it becomes even more important in the summer with the increased sun exposure. The most common cause of vission loss and blindness in people over the age of 55 is age-related macular degeneration. This occurs when the central part of the retina (macula) becomes damaged and the most common cause of this damage is years of UV exposure.

One of the most important components in the retina is a vitamin - vitamin A to be exact. Thus, foods rich in this vitamin -- along with beta-carotene, zinc, and Vitamins C and E -- are beneficial to the eyes. Good sources of vitamin A (as beta-carotene) and vitamin C include dark green vegetables like kale, chard, and mustard greens, plus bell peppers, carrots, and blueberries. Lutein is also critical for eye health. Eggs and tomatoes are both rich sources of lutein.

Avocados full of Nutrients

Avocados make great dips and spreads, or can be enjoyed just as they are.People need a substantial amount of nutrients to lead healthy lifestyles. The health-conscious will be happy to know that nutrient-dense avocados provide almost 20 vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients per serving. Avocados also contain monounsaturated fats, which offer a healthful alternative to saturated fats. Nutrition organizations such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition recommend avocados as a beneficial part of a balanced diet.

Vitamin K promotes normal blood clotting.Along with vitamins A, C, D, E and the eight B vitamins, fat-soluble vitamin K is one of the 13 vitamins essential to the human body. Luckily, avocados contain more vitamin K than any other nutrient. In a single 30-gram serving, the fruit provides 6.3 micrograms of vitamin K--8 percent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) recommended daily values. Most importantly, vitamin K allows normal, healthy blood clotting and prevents calcification of the arteries. It also supports bone health, reducing the risk of fracture and helping prevent postmenopausal bone loss.


Vitamin E is one of many antioxidants contained is avocados.Per serving, avocados contain 1.2 international units of vitamin E, which is 4 percent of the FDA's recommended daily intake. This fat-soluble vitamin is an antioxidant, meaning it protects the body from unstable free radicals that can harm tissues, cells and organs. Because free radicals are associated with the aging process, vitamin E acts as an anti-aging nutrient. Likewise, it supports the appearance of healthy hair and skin, and works in conjunction with vitamin K to maintain the health of red blood cells.

Vitamin C
Like vitamin E, vitamin C acts an an antioxidant. According to the FDA, avocados offer 2.4 micrograms—4 percent of the recommended daily value--of vitamin C per serving. This water-soluble nutrient aids the body by supplementing the growth and repair of tissues and helping the formation of collagen, which aids in making skin, tissue, tendons, ligaments and blood vessels. In addition to speeding along the healing process, vitamin C assists the formation of cartilage, bones and teeth.

Lutein
With consistent intake, lutein helps prevent blindness caused by aging.Avocados are especially rich in lutein; each serving contains 81.3 micrograms of this nutrient. A natural pigment known as a carotenoid, lutein is an antioxidant that helps maintain eye health, preventing eye diseases and macular degeneration. Though the FDA doesn't provide a daily recommended amount of lutein, the organization Macular Degeneration Support recommends 20 micrograms daily. Lutein also supports healthy skin.

Avocados contain an abundance—27 micrograms, or 8 percent of the daily value—of folate per serving. This nutrient assists the body in the development of healthy cells and tissues, and also supports proper homocysteine metabolism, which regulates the body's amino acids. These amino acids construct the protein that builds and repairs body tissues.
Check with you physician before taking any of these vitamins as some vitaims interfere with certain medications.

Watermelon who knew

Your mother may have told you carrots would keep your eyes bright as a child, but as an adult, it looks like fruit is even more important for keeping your sight. Data reported in a study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology indicates that eating 3 or more servings of fruit per day may lower your risk of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), the primary cause of vision loss in older adults, by 36%, compared to persons who consume less than 1.5 servings of fruit daily.

In this study, which involved over 110,000 women and men, researchers evaluated the effect of study participants' consumption of fruits; vegetables; the antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E; and carotenoids on the development of early ARMD or neovascular ARMD, a more severe form of the illness associated with vision loss. While, surprisingly, intakes of vegetables, antioxidant vitamins and carotenoids were not strongly related to incidence of either form of ARMD, fruit intake was definitely protective against the severe form of this vision-destroying disease. Three servings of fruit may sound like a lot to eat each day, but watermelon can help you reach this goal. What could be more delicious on a hot summer's day than a slice of sweet, refreshing watermelon? For a great summer spritzer, blend watermelon with a spoonful of honey and a splash of lemon or lime, then stir in seltzer water and decorate with a sprig of mint. If you didn't experience the fun of a seed spitting contest as a child, it's not too late to introduce this summer ritual to your children or the child in you

"Quality" Carbs It's Not Just About Your Six-Pack

It seems as though every week we learn something new about the real power of nutrition. Recently, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) funded scientists at the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research and found some interesting information.
Age related macular degeneration (AMD) and the vision loss associated with it may be connected to the “quality” of carbohydrates.

One study showed that a regular consumption of a “slow carb” ( low glycemic index) diet provided a protective effect against macular degeneration. A food’s glycemic index is an indicator of how fast the carbohydrate it contains will spike blood sugar levels.

So how do you keep your glycemic index in check? To learn more about which carbs produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels, check out http://www.glycemicindex.com/ and follow their recommendations:

1. Pile half your dinner plate high with vegetables or salad
Aim to eat at least five serves of vegetables (this doesn’t include the starchy ones like potatoes, sweet potatoes or sweet corn) every day, and aim for foods with a variety of of colors.

2. Cut back on most potatoes
If you are a big potato eater and can’t bear the thought of giving them up, you don’t have to. Just cut back on the quantity. Don’t be afraid of trying other starchy vegetables like sweet potato, yams or taro, steamed, roasted or mashed.

3. Swap your bread
Choose a really grainy bread where you can actually see the grains, granary bread, stoneground wholemeal bread, real sourdough bread, soy and linseed bread, pumpernickel, fruit loaf or bread made from chickpea or other legume based flours.

4. Replace those high GI crunchy breakfast flakes
These refined breakfast cereals spike your blood glucose and insulin levels. Replace them with smart carbs like natural muesli or traditional (not instant) porridge oats or one of the lower GI processed breakfast cereals that will trickle fuel into your engine.

5. Make your starchy staples the low GI ones
Look for the low GI rice’s, serve your pasta al dente, choose less processed foods such as large flake or rolled oats for porridge or muesli and intact grains such as barley, buckwheat, bulgur, quinoa, whole kernel rye, or whole wheat kernels and opt for lower GI starchy vegetables.

6. Learn to love legumes!
Include legumes like beans, lentils and chickpeas in your meals two or three times a week, more often if you are vegetarian. Add chickpeas to a stir fry, red kidney beans to a chili, a bean salad to that barbecue menu, and beans or lentils to a casserole or soup.

7. Develop the art of combining
No need to cut out all high GI carbs. The trick is to combine them with those low GI tricklers to achieve a moderate overall GI. How? Lentils with rice (think of that delicious classic Italian soup), rice with beans and chili, tabbouli tucked into pita bread (with falafels and a dash of hummus), baked beans on toast or piled on a jacket-baked potato for classic comfort food.

8. Incorporate a lean protein source with every meal
Eat lean meat, skinless chicken, fish and seafood, eggs, milk, yoghurt or cheese, or legumes and tofu if you are vegetarian. The protein portion should make up around a quarter of the plate/meal.

9. Tickle your taste buds
Try vinaigrette (using vinegar or lemon juice with a dash of extra virgin olive oil) with salads, yogurt with cereal, lemon juice on vegetables like asparagus, or sourdough bread. These foods contain acids, which slow stomach emptying and lower your blood glucose response to the carbs in the meal.

10. Go low GI when snacking

If it is healthful and low GI, keep it handy. Grab fresh fruit, dried fruit, or fruit and nut mix, low fat milk and yogurt (or soy alternatives), fruit bread etc for snacks. Limit (this means don’t buy them every week) high GI refined flour products whether home baked or from the supermarket such as cookies, cakes, pastries, crumpets, crackers, biscuits, irrespective of their fat and sugar content. These really are the ‘keep for the occasional treat’ foods.

Keep your eye on the serving size. Remember portion caution with carb rich foods such as rice, al dente pasta and noodles, potatoes etc. Eating a huge amount of these foods, even of the low GI variety, will have a marked effect on your blood glucose. A cup of cooked noodles or al dente pasta or rice plus plenty of mixed non starchy vegetables and a little lean protein can turn into 3 cups of a very satisfying meal.

Most of all, recognize that protective nutrients are in each and every meal that you eat, and we all my have the power to stave off certain age related conditions.

A Diet Rich in Antioxidants Can Prevent Macular Degeneration and Blindness

Experts at Brigham Young University, United States, disclose that there occur two damaging mechanisms within the retina, which cause macular degeneration.Individuals who develop age related macular degeneration (ARMD), first suffer the loss of central-vision. Sooner or later, the individual loses complete vision.

Heidi Vollmer discovered that ARMD occurs due to a build-up of A2E, a natural by-product of various cellular processes. However, contrasting to other cellular by-products, A2E does not decompose, causing undue damage to the retina. The other factor responsible for ARMD is damage to the mitochondria within the cells. Excessive A2E disrupts the energy manufacture by the mitochondria, which consequently results in the death of the photo-receptors (cells for vision).

Studies were performed to test the photo-receptors of cows, rats and humans. Results showed that antioxidants prevent damage to the cells responsible for vision. What’s more, antioxidants can extend the life span of the photoreceptors and retinal cells.

What is Age Related Macular Degeneration?

Macula is that part of the retinal tissue where pictures and impressions are focused. It is predominantly responsible for our vision.

Importantly, ARMD has emerged as a principal cause for visual loss, world over.

Signs and Symptoms of Macular Degeneration


1.ARMD begins with obscuring of the vision.


2.Objects / pictures appear distorted or twisted.


3.One may visualize a dark area / patch in the center of the visual field.


4.Certain words may go missing, while reading.


5.Peripheral-vision is at first normal, but over a period of time it diminishes.

Preventive and Curative Measures : Diet to Prevent Macular Degeneration

Nutritionists and experts, world over, advise augmenting the daily diet with foods that support and maintain a healthy and good vision. Step up the intake of - carrots, tomatoes, spinach, kiwi, corn, Brussels sprouts, celery, bell peppers, broccoli, green leafy vegetables, apples and mangoes.

The following foods supply generous amounts of (lutein, zeaxanthin, and lycopene) anti-oxidants that stave off free radical damage to the photoreceptors and preserve vision :


1.Carrots: sustain good vision, even in old age. Carotene, found in abundance in carrots, shields the tissues of the eye from ARMD and checks the occurrence of cataract. Also, carrots supply large quantities of glutathione, the most powerful anti-aging agent. Carrots even prevent night blindness and encourage optimum night vision.


2.Spinach: loaded with lutein, spinach is vital for a healthy and good eyesight and is highly essential to prevent blurring of vision and blindness.

Vitiam B To Help with Age Related Eye Problems

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Research has shown that taking a mixture of Vitamin B taken on a consistent basis can halt a common type of vision loss that occurs in older people.

Macular degeneration is thought to effect over 2 million people in the United States, especially over the age of 50.

(Image from Haap Media Ltd - All Rights Reserved)

Although some macular dystrophies affecting younger individuals are sometimes referred to as macular degeneration, the term generally refers to age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD).

Folic Acid Plus Vitamins B-6 And B-12

Researchers at Brigham And Women’s Hospital in Boston discovered that people who took folic acid and vitamins B-6 and B-12 were able to reduce their risk of macular degeneration by approximately a third.

Macular degeneration manifests as blurred vision which makes it difficult to read, drive and even recognize faces.

More About Macular Degeneration

Age related macular degeneration is a medical condition which usually affects older adults which results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field (the macula) because of damage to the retina.

It occurs in “dry” and “wet” forms and it’s a major cause of visual impairment in older adults. Macular degeneration can make it difficult or impossible to read or recognize faces, although enough peripheral vision remains to allow other activities of daily life.

The inner layer of the eye is the retina, which contains nerves that communicate sight; behind the retina is the choroid which contains the blood supply to the macula (the central part of the retina).

Dry And Wet Forms Of Macular Degeneration

In the dry (nonexudative) form, cellular debris called drusen accumulate between the retina and the choroid, and the retina can become detached.

In the wet (exudative) form, which is more severe, blood vessels grow up from the choroid behind the retina, and the retina can also become detached. It can be treated with laser coagulation, and with medication that stops and sometimes reverses the growth of blood vessels.

Beginning Signs

Age-related macular degeneration begins with characteristic yellow deposits in the macula (central area of the retina, which provides detailed central vision, called the fovea) called drusen between the retinal pigment epithelium and the underlying choroid.

Most people with these early changes (referred to as age-related maculopathy) have good vision. People with drusen can go on to develop advanced AMD.

The risk is considerably higher when the drusen are large and numerous and associated with disturbance in the pigmented cell layer under the macula.

Recent research suggests that large and soft drusen are related to elevated cholesterol deposits and may respond to cholesterol-lowering agents.

As the population in the United States ages there is hope that ongoing research to this eye challenge will increase and cures will be discovered.