How diet and nutrition Optimizes Your Eye Health

Photo Credit: Soroush Karimi via Unsplash

We all know that proper diet and nutrition play an essential role in improving your overall wellness and keeping your health at its best. But less know the full effects of what this really means. For example, proper health and nutrition can be instrumental in helping your eye health.

When you think about nutrition, you may not be thinking about how it can impact the health of your eyes, in addition to your overall wellness. Whether you see a nutritionist or Vancouver optometrist, both will likely agree that consuming a healthy diet of certain foods can help to maintain eye wellness, prevent diseases, and even improve your eyesight. Here’s how!
 

Essential Nutrients

The foods we eat contain essential nutrients for our physical health. When it comes to the eyes, nutrients that are beneficial can include:
 

• Lutein
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin E
• Zeaxanthin
• Omega-3 fatty acids
• Gamma-Linolenic Acid
• Zinc

Research has shown that eating a diet high in these nutrients can help to decrease the risk of eye diseases such as cataracts, dry eye syndrome, or other age-related eye conditions. A healthy diet can also help prevent other conditions, such as diabetes or hypertension, which are known to affect the eyes.
 

Nutrient-Rich Foods
 

There are many foods that can help benefit the eyes. Certain fruits and vegetables are the leading sources of these nutrients. Carrots are the most widely known source, containing high levels of Vitamin A and beta carotene, which help the eye surface and prevent infections. Other vegetables and fruits such as kale, orange peppers, spinach, berries, and kiwi all contain large quantities of these essential nutrients. Studies have also shown that adding fish such as salmon, tuna, and rainbow trout roughly twice a week can help prevent certain eye diseases.
 

Many types of seeds and nuts are also beneficial to eye health. Almonds, for example, are a nut that is high in vitamin E, which helps the eye bolster itself against instabilities, which can lead to weakened eye tissues and diseases. This is also true for other nuts and seeds like peanuts, sunflower seeds, and hazelnuts.
 

Other Tips for Great Eye Health
 

While diet plays an important role in your eye health, it is far from the only contributing factor. There are many other ways to help keep your eyes in top physical condition. Wearing sunglasses on very bright and sunny days is an easy example of protecting your eyes from harmful UV rays. Wearing protective eyewear while engaging in activities such as sports, construction, landscaping, or any other event where debris can easily fly into the eye is another important way of keeping yourself safe from injury.

Maintaining other healthy lifestyle habits such as balancing a good blood sugar level and avoiding smoking are two other ways to help prevent diseases that can cause eye conditions. Smoking alone can increase the risk of cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and more.
Lastly, a great way you can ensure your eyes are in optimal condition is by seeing an eye doctor roughly every one to two years.


This is a guest blog entry.