Science has shown that vitamins, minerals and micronutrients such as pigments and fatty acids all play a vital role in supporting your eye health.
Thanks to our wartime anecdotes, everyone thinks that carrots are the best vegetables for seeing in the dark, but they are not the best brightly coloured vegetable for helping your eyes. Today we know that the real superfood is kale which contains far more of the valuable pigments lutein and zeaxanthin than carrots. These pigments are especially important in supporting macular health and high levels of this are found in chard, collard greens, watercress, maize and orange peppers as well. They are also found in brightly coloured fruits & berries, and eggs are also a valuable source of lutein. Carrots do have other benefits – they are a great source of Vitamin A although Vitamin A deficiency (which can cause dry eyes & night blindness) is uncommon in the UK and other developed countries.
Omega 3 fatty acid supplementation can help dry eyes, as it is not possible to eat enough oily fish to get the high dosages needed. It is the DHA and EPA found in Omega 3, which is important and not all Omega 3 supplements have high potency of these two fatty acids – so it is vital to read the labels of supplements carefully to ensure you are taking a useful dosage of up to 2000mg of EPA & DHA per day.
You may have heard that red wine is good for the eyes due to a compound called Resveratrol – found in red grapes and red wine. It has potent anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, but the quantity of wine needed to see the beneficial effect would be outweighed by the negative effects of drinking so much red wine! However it is available in tablet form along with other micronutrients in Macula Retina supplements.
In summary – we all know we should be eating plenty of fruit and vegetables and oily fish but for some people this just isn’t possible in which case it is worth investing in supplements to boost the intake of these micronutrients.