A feast for the eyes… eye health and diet

What does food have to do with your eyes?

Like any other organ, your eyes need certain nutrients to be healthy and serve you well with good vision. By eating all the right foods, you can protect your eyesight now and prevent age-related issues later.

Beta-carotene

You may have heard that carrots are good for the eyes and there’s certainly an element of truth in it. Carrots are a good source of beta-carotene, which your body converts to vitamin A essential for healthy eyesight. Other great sources include butternut squash, spinach, sweet potato, kale, red pepper, cantaloupe melon, papaya, mango and watercress.

Unlike animal products, plant foods only ever contain beta-carotene, not vitamin A. That’s actually an advantage because too much vitamin A can be toxic – you can get too much from animal products or supplements! On the other hand, your body converts beta-carotene from plant foods into vitamin A but only according to its needs so you can never have too much of it.

Lutein and zeaxanthin

These two are pigments are found naturally in the macula, a part of the retina where all the light-sensitive cells are concentrated. They are thought to act as a shield, protecting the macula against blue light which could damage the cells. Luckily, we can get plenty of these pigments through diet.

The best sources include spinach, Swiss chard, kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, parsley, pistachios, green peas, and pumpkins and squashes. These foods are best eaten with a little fat because it helps their absorption.

Zinc

Important for healthy vision, the immune system and male reproductive health, zinc is certainly a crucial nutrient. There’s an old saying warning men not to indulge in too much self-stimulation because it can make them blind. While that’s an exaggeration, it isn’t wrong! Zinc is an essential part of sperm and if you lose too much, there won’t be enough left in the body to maintain your eyesight.

The best zinc sources include tofu, tempeh – fermented soya beans, whole wheat spaghetti, quinoa, wheat germ, wholemeal couscous, brown rice, lentils, pumpkin seeds, cashew nuts, sesame seeds and tahini (sesame seed paste).

Copper

This mineral is rarely mentioned in connection with eye health but it should be. It’s needed for the manufacture of many enzymes crucial for the functioning of the nervous system, including healthy vision. Copper deficiency can even cause vision loss.

Best sources include wholegrain foods (whole wheat pasta, oats, wholemeal bread, quinoa and brown rice), nuts and seeds, pulses (beans and lentils), dried apricots, mushrooms and spinach.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is a strong antioxidant that protects the fats in cell membranes from deteriorating and that includes eye cells. Having plenty of this vitamin is vital for eye health but it’s much better to rely on natural sources rather than supplements. The best plant sources include plant oils and spreads, nuts and seeds (hazelnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, peanut butter and pistachios), avocado, butternut squash, canned tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, kale, mango and wheat germ.

Vitamin C

Another little-known fact is that the liquid inside your eye – the aqueous humour – has a high concentration of vitamin C. The amount found in the eye corresponds with how much of it you eat on a daily basis. Research shows that people who suffer from cataracts (a clouding of the eye) tend to have low concentrations of vitamin C and other antioxidants in the blood.

The best sources of vitamin C include berries, citrus fruits, kiwi, mango, pineapple, tomatoes, bell peppers, green leafy veggies if only lightly boiled (kale, spring greens, broccoli, cabbage) and even potatoes. But beware – potato crisps don’t count!

Omega-3 fats

One of the omega-3 fats, DHA, is found in the retina in high concentrations so we should keep a supply going. People with dry eye disease also benefit from extra omega-3s.

You can get omega-3s from ground flaxseed or flaxseed oil, chia and hemp seeds, walnuts or rapeseed oil – your body converts some of them into DHA and it should cover your needs. However, if you want to be certain, you can take a DHA supplement produced from microalgae, which are commercially available.

Diet and long-term eye health

Two most common eyesight issues linked to older age are cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. The former causes clouding of the eye, the latter a slow deterioration of the macula which disturbs your vision.

According to scientific studies, a diet high in the nutrients I’ve described is not just important for day-to-day eye health but can reduce the risk of age-related vision issues by up to 40 per cent. When it comes to cataracts, the more antioxidants you have in the diet, the lower your risk. As for macular degeneration, a varied plant-based diet with enough omega-3s seems to be the key to prevention.

Strengthen your protection

Protecting your eyes from physical damage is also important – obviously! Wearing sunglasses to protect them from UV light can help prevent both cataracts and macular degeneration in the long-term.

Smoking is bad for the eyes just as it is for the rest of your body, so don’t do it. And if you do computer work, make sure to look away from the screen at least every half an hour and focus on something far away. Lastly, if you spend a lot of time looking at your phone screen, do look away at least every twenty minutes – because you hold your phone closer to your face than a computer screen it puts a bigger strain on your eyes.

Foods over supplements

It may be tempting to get a bottle of vitamin pills and live on chips and ice cream but it’s always better to eat a healthy diet than rely on supplements. The only exception are omega-3s as you simply get the extracted oil in a capsule and your body absorbs it straight away. You should also take vitamins B12 and D but the rest is easy to come by (and far better) from food alone.

If you feed your eyes right, they’ll serve you well for decades to come!