Vegetables Can Improve Eye Sight

Have you ever heard the expression that there are certain foods that look like body parts? Well if you cut an avocado in half it looks like an eye, especially with the stone in the middle. As people get older they have two very inconvenient disorders of the eye, macular degeneration and cataracts.

Macular Degeneration is an age-related disorder that blurs the vision in the part of the eye that you use for forward looking activities, such as reading, driving, sewing, walking, writing and face recognition. The macula is the central part of the eye that lets you see fine detail. It becomes damaged creating a circular blurred spot in the vision. Sometimes it advances so slowly that people don’t notice strong changes in their vision until it become significant enough to cause problems.

A cataract, is a clouding of the lens of the eye by proteins that begin to clump together. It starts as a small clumping and can gradually increase. Some cataracts are age related but can appear at birth or even after an eye injury. They can have various causes, but eventually blur the sight so it becomes impossible to focus clearly or see sharply.

One of the nutrients that protects the eyes is called Lutein. Because it is concentrated in the retina of the eye, having enough is very important . It is a powerful antioxidant, belonging to the carotenoid family. It is found in orange, yellow and red vegetables such as squash, tomatoes and carrots. in addition to green leafy vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, kale and collards. Egg yolk, corn and certain fruits also contain lutein. Avocados however, have stellar amounts of lutein and lesser amounts of another antioxidant called zeaxanthin.

Studies have shown that lutein is found in high concentrations in the small central area of the retina called the macula. Visual acuity resides there and for your vision to be sharp, you need healthy amounts of lutein in your diet. One of the most pleasant ways to get lots of lutein is to use avocado every day, either as a spread, instead of butter on sandwiches and wraps, or to use it as a salad addition to get adequate amounts of healthy fats. Add a few tomato slices to that and you amp up the lutein even further. Raw spinach would add even more lutein.

Because the mechanism for cataract growth is not really known, other than to say, a few large studies have shown that a daily intake of between 6 and 15 mg of lutein daily, reduces cataract risk by 20 to 50 percent, it is important to get enough lutein to prevent and reduce cataract risk.

Combining different lutein rich foods every day will ensure you protect your eyes from blurred and impaired vision. Choose from the following list, considering that fruits have much less lutein than veggies with the line starting with apples, only having traces:

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