How Can I Help My Eyes See Better?
This is a common question asked by patients and most are surprised to hear that my answer is to eat a healthy diet, maintain an active lifestyle, and if you smoke, quit.
What Nutrients Do The Eyes Need?
Eating adequate amounts of antioxidants (vitamins A, C, and E along with the minerals copper, selenium, and zinc) is a great start, but it is something called lutein that may be the most important supplement to maintain eye health. The eyes need a minimum of 5.76mg per day of lutein, but the average person consumes only 0.5 to 2.0 mg per day. A multivitamin containing lutein helps, but look over your multivitamin carefully; Centrum Silver has 0.25mg per capsule which means that 24 capsules per day would provide the minimum dose of lutein. Note that men should NOT consume a multivitamin containing iron. While iron is important for women, it can promote heart disease in men.
Omega 3 oil (salmon oil) is important in maintaining both eye health and general health. It is an essential nutrient which means that the body does not make it and must be consumed. The United States has a diet rich in fried foods, grains, and eggs none of which provide adequate levels of Omega 3 oils. Does your skin tend to be dry even in the summer? If you wear contact lenses, has dryness become a problem? Is your cholesterol level rising? All can be improved by increasing your dietary intake of Omega 3 oil. If you don't like the taste of fish, try flax seed oil capsules which have a nutty flavor. Whichever you choose, a dosage of 1000 to 2000 mg per day is recommended. Note that there are two types of Omega 3 oil; the ethyl ester (EE) and the natural triglyceride (TG). The TG form is much better for you since it is more easily absorbed by the body whereas the EE form should be avoided since it causes upset stomach, bloating and an unpleasant aftertaste.
You can find more information about these nutrients on the internet, but where can you get reliable information? I recommend wholehealthmd.com as a general reference and Manna Nutrition, in Overland Park, to find these products.
How Does Smoking Affect The Eyes?
Of all the tissues in the body, the eye has one of the highest rates of metabolism which means that it needs and consumes nutrients quickly so imagine what happens if blood vessels deliver cigarette smoke instead of oxygen to the eyes. Smoking alone increases the odds of developing an eye disease called macular degeneration 3-4x more than a non-smoker and 5-10 years earlier. You can't do anything about eye disease risk factors like age, sex, or race, but stop smoking and your odds of developing one of the major eye diseases drops significantly.
Summing It Up
So let’s review; eat healthy, add Omega 3 oils to your diet, and look for quality. None of what has been recommended will help you to see better without your glasses or contact lenses; everything that has been recommended will help you to maintain the health of your eyes. When would be a good time to start? Why not now?
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