The Nutrients that Best Protect Your Vision

The Nutrients that Best Protect Your Vision
By Victor Marchione, MD Top

Protecting and preserving your vision as you grow older requires a bounty of nutrients that do it for you naturally. In the grocery store, head for the produce aisles. Keeping your diet full of colorful fruits and vegetables could help keep the eyes strong. Greens, oranges, reds, yellows -- the more colorful the produce is, the better it is for your eyesight.

For example, two “carotenoid” nutrients are at the top of any list for eyesight. They are lutein and zeaxanthin, found in a variety of vegetables, including dark green salad greens. Heard of carrots being good for eyesight? It’s because they are brimming with beta-carotene (providing the orange color). What does the body turn beta-carotene into? Vitamin A, which is needed by your eyes for healthy functioning. These are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the incredible antioxidant nutrients found naturally in fruits and vegetables.

That said, supplements are also a good idea for those who wish to ramp up their vision protection or for anyone who may be at greater risk for conditions such as cataracts and macular degeneration (or who perhaps are already forming one of these conditions).

Here are some additional vision-aiding supplements that also work great. Topping the list are lutein and zeaxanthin, found in any health store. People who have high levels of these nutrients in their bodies have been found to have a much lower risk of cataracts and of macular degeneration.1-3 Aim for 10 mg a day of each.1-3

Both vitamin A and vitamin C are excellent supplement ideas (at daily doses of 2,000 IU and 500 mg, respectively). Bilberry is a very common supplement for vision, as it contains a flavonoid that may help protect against cataracts. Studies have mostly homed in on its ability to improve night vision.4 Take 120 mg twice a day.

Two other supplements to round out your best choices are zinc (a mineral found in each retina naturally) and pine bark extract -- 20 mg and 50 mg, respectively.
By giving your eyes the nutrients they need, you’ll go a long way in preventing the onset of age-related vision loss.

References
1. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2002;75: 540-9.
2. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1999: 70: 517-24.
3. JAMA 1994: 272: 1,413-20.
4. MediHerb Prof. Rev. 1997; 59:1-4.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Victor Marchione has been practicing medicine in New York and New Jersey for over 20 years and is a respected leader in the field of nutrition, smoking cessation and pulmonary medicine. He has been featured on ABC News, CBS Evening News, and the NBC Today Show. He is also the chief formulator of the Red Wine Pill from Bel Marra Nutritionals.]

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