Today’s Special: Eye Health

photo credit: basykes

Eye Health – Become Proactive In YOUR Vision Care

Imagine if you could walk into a restaurant and order a dinner formulated for your specific nutritional requirements: the Triathlete’s Plate would feature lots of pasta and a steak; the High Blood Pressure Entrée would consist of grilled chicken breast, a salad of fresh greens with low-sodium dressing, and a whole-wheat roll with low-sodium margarine; the Pregnancy Plate would include foods that are high in folic acid, such as orange juice, green leafy vegetables, beans, peanuts and broccoli – as well as a special dessert crafted to fulfill your odd cravings (”Peanut butter-and-banana torte with chocolate sauce? No problem.”)

Use Natural Vision Correction to Improve Your Eyesight
Natural Vision Correction

Now think about the Eye Health Special. You know from past Rebuild Your Vision newsletter articles that it would include foods high in beta carotene, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, apricots, winter squash, pumpkin, cantaloupe, and mangoes. You also know that foods high in lutein – carrots, corn, kale, spinach, Swiss chard, collard, mustard greens, and red peppers – would also be on the menu. But scientists have discovered some new foods that may be beneficial to eye health – something to think about the next time you visit the grocery store.

In a new study, researchers have found that spinach may provide a possible treatment for some forms of blindness caused by degenerative diseases of the retina, such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. The technique involves extracting light-absorbing pigments from Popeye’s favorite vegetable and adding them to nerve cells in the retina.

Use Natural Vision Correction to Improve Your Eyesight
Natural Vision Correction

While not a staple of American dining, green algae contains a protein that could also be used to one day treat degenerative sight problems. People with retinitis pigmentosa lack light-sensitive cells; the algae has a light-absorbing protein called ChR2. When this protein was introduced into cells in mouse retinas that had lost light-sensitive photoreceptor cells, visual response was restored.

Age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of vision loss among people over the age of 60. We know lutein can help prevent this condition, but French researchers believe that walnuts, rich in an antioxidant called resveratrol, could also protect against age-related macular degeneration.

A 2005 study suggests that consuming omega-3 fatty acids may help treat dry eye syndrome, which strikes 10 million Americans each year, many of them menopausal women. Omega-3s are found in fatty fish such as mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna, and salmon.

Finally, although carbs used to be the villans of the diet world, remember that not all carbs are created equal. In a 2006 study, researchers from Tufts and Harvard Universities report that, eating a low glycemic index (GI) diet could reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration by more than 60 per cent. The GI ranks carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels: for example, white bread and rice have a higher GI than whole-grain bread and pasta. For further information, visit the “Glycemic Index” section of the Canadian Diabetes Association’s Web site, diabetes.ca/Section_About/glycemic.asp.

So next time you’re in a restaurant, order the Eye Health Special – and bon appétit!

Use Natural Vision Correction to Improve Your Eyesight
Natural Vision Correction

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