Eyes need sustenance to stay healthy and beautiful in the same way that bones need calcium. Proper vitamins and minerals are vital to eye health, particularly as people age.
When taken regularly, vitamins for eyes can:
- Improve your vision by repairing weak or damaged parts of the eye
- Improve your eye health by nourishing all components of the eye
- Protect against conditions like glaucoma and macular degeneration
Vitamins that have been identified appear to improve, protect and support eye health are:
Vitamin C. Can be found in fruits and vegetables such as oranges, strawberries, rosehip, broccoli. Appears to reduce pressure in Glaucoma, slows deterioration in macular degeneration and reduces the risk of cataracts. Antioxidant.
Vitamin E. Can be found in many nuts such as almonds and hazelnuts, whole grains, such as wheat and oats, wheat germ, leafy green vegetables, sardines, egg yolks and nuts.. Antioxidants play a role in the reduction of risk for macular degeneration and cataracts.
Vitamin A. Can be found in carrots, sweet potatoes, and liver. Deficiency is tied to blindness, and corneal ulcers. Use may reduce risk of cataracts, and night blindness. Antioxidant. Reported to improve night vision. Lutein, beta, and alpha carotene are converted by the body into vitamin A. And lutein is found in very high concentrations in the macula of the eye. Lutein is used to help prevent macular degeneration, which is a big problem for people over 40 years of age. Macular degeneration can lead to blindness. Lutein is thought to work as an antioxidant in this capacity. Lutein is one example of a type of plant nutrient known as carotenoids. Better known examples include beta carotene and alpha carotene. Carotenoids are responsible for giving fruit and vegetables their distinctive colors, and the brightness of a fruit or vegetable is a good indicator of how much carotenoids it has in it. Those with a rich color have a higher concentration.
Taking a combination of vitamins B6 and B12 has also been shown to decrease your risk of age-related macular degernation.
Vitamin K removes dark circles under eyes and the puffiness that comes along with it by healing the damaged capillaries and arteries in the skin and helping the blood circulating around the eyes to clot. As the skin under the eye is very thin, when blood passes through the veins next to the skin’s surface it becomes important that the blood clots properly. The thinner the skin near the eye the more visible the dark circles will appear if this is not done. Vitamin K, therefore, helps the blood flowing through the veins of the skin to clot and prevent seepage, which is how dark circles under eyes are formed.
Vitamin deficiency can impair retinal function. The belief that eating carrots improves vision has some truth, but a variety of vegetables, especially leafy green ones, should be an important part of your diet. Researchers have found people on diets with higher levels of vitamins C and E, zinc, lutein, zeaxanthin, omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA are less likely to develop early and advanced AMD. The National Eye Institute’s (NEI) Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) demonstrated that high levels of antioxidants and zinc significantly reduced the risk of AMD by 25% for patients at high risk for developing advanced AMD.
Multivitamins usually contain all essential vitamins that one would expect to get from foods at levels that meet the nutrient requirement of nearly all healthy individuals. These nutrient levels are the highest requirement of the recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) for specific age and sex groups. Many, but not all, also contain the essential minerals at levels that we typically get from food. The RDAs are set at levels that are judged by panels of scientists to be those needed to promote health in most groups of healthy people. However, they may not be adequate for individuals with unique needs caused by the presence of disease.
Taking eye vitamins can help your eyes stay healthy for a longer period of time. Vitamins for the eyes can also help prevent many diseases. Although you can obtain all the vitamins and minerals you need by eating certain foods, it is nearly impossible in the fast food controlled times to get a healthy meal with all the vitamins and minerals. That’s why eye vitamins can be bought and bought without a prescription.
Eye Health and Vision Care Magazine