Does your diet really affect your eyesight?
Just like the rest of our bodies, our eyes need the right nutrition to function at their best and stay healthy. Well, we’ve done your homework for you and put together a list of things you should be eating to help your eyes as much as possible, as well as a list of what to avoid or limit.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids – Eating enough of certain foods with Omega-3 fatty acids in them may help you maintain your healthy eyesight for longer. Retinopathies, which can cause blindness, are caused by abnormal blood vessel growth in your eye’s retina, so it’s important to try and prevent this abnormal growth.
Food fix: You can get these Omega-3s from cold-water fish like tuna, salmon and mackerel, as well as from flaxseed oil.
Vitamins C & E – These two vitamins function as antioxidants, and are important in keeping your eyesight at its best. They do this by protecting your eyes from damage by harmful free radicals. In turn, this can prevent or slow the progression of cataracts and macular degeneration, which causes blind spots, blurry vision, or even loss of vision.
Food fix: Vitamin E can be found in wheat germ; certain nuts, such as almonds, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, and peanuts; and spinach.
Food fix: Vitamin C is in a range of fruits and vegetables, including capsicums, broccoli, tomatoes, strawberries, and citrus fruits.
Zinc – Zinc is found in high concentration in your retina, and is important to the production of melanin – a pigment that protects your eyes. If you’re lacking in zinc, you might suffer from poor night vision, macular degeneration, or cloudy cataracts.
Food fix: You can up your zinc intake by eating more nuts, eggs, red meat, seafood, yoghurt, and poultry.
Vitamin A & Beta-Carotene – Beta-carotene converts into vitamin A, which forms an important purple pigment in the retina. This pigment, rhodopsin, is needed to see in dim light. If you don’t get enough vitamin A, you may end up with night blindness, and has also been linked to macular degeneration.
Food fix: For beta-carotene, you’ll want to stick to bright and colourful plants and veggies. Things like pumpkin, carrots, sweet potatoes, and dark leafy greens are perfect.
What to avoid – If you don’t want to undo all the hard work you’ve put in to protect your eyes, you may want to avoid certain foods. Caffeine can be responsible for depleting vitamins and minerals from your body, like the ones needed for optimum eye health. High amounts of preservatives or highly processed foods can also reduce vitamin stores, and have been known to cause inflammation in the nerves and blood vessels that go to the eyes, which can cause poor vision.