Vitamins That Help Improve Your Eyesight

Eyesight degeneration is something that naturally happens to everyone during the process of aging. Prescription or over-the-counter treatments can help slow or remedy this process and laser eye surgery has been increasing in popularity recently but there are less expensive ways to prevent or even reverse sight loss. One way of doing this is by ensuring that you consume specific vitamins through certain foods and by supplementing your diet with vitamins if necessary.

Refocusing your eyes at regular intervals, wearing sunglasses when in the glare, and refraining from unnecessarily straining your eyes are ways to keep them healthy— but proper nutrition is also key. The different parts of the eye and specifically the retina, the macula, and the lens all require a range of different nutrients to function properly and here are a few of the essential ones.    

The three main vitamins necessary for maintaining good eyesight are vitamins A, C, and E. Vitamin A improves vision during the nighttime and in low-light. A concentrated amount of vitamin A can be found in carrots, spinach, broccoli, sweet potatoes, squash, eggs, cheese, and butter. Next, vitamin C, an antioxidant that aids the prevention of cataracts, can be found in most fruits.

High quantities of vitamin C can be found in oranges and other citrus fruits. Vitamin C supplements have grown increasingly available because vitamin C increases immune system functionality. Then there is vitamin E, another antioxidant that prevents cell damage and aging in the eyes. Asparagus, avocado, milk, eggs, spinach, nuts, vegetable oils, and whole grain foods are all high in vitamin E.

Another substance, known as lutein, is found in many green vegetables and eggs and is important to preventing macular degeneration. Lutein is one of many types of cartenoids that can be found in vegetables, all of which help preserve eye health. Aside from fighting cataract development, lutein also slows macular degeneration in the eye that happens normally through aging. 10% of the population aged 66-74 experience macular degeneration and 30% of people 75-85 years old experience it. Some foods with high levels of lutein are kale, spinach, peas, broccoli, zucchini, and eggs. Zinc is also known to slow and prevent macular degeneration. The seeds of pumpkin, squash, and watermelon all contain zinc. Liver and roast beef are also foods that contain high quantities of zinc.

For retinal health, omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil play an important role. One particular omega-3 fatty acid known as DHA has been found to improve color and depth perception. These oils can be integrated into any diet either by eating fish or by taking fish oil supplements.

Even if you are at the point where your eyesight may be getting worse due to age, you don’t have to worry too much or opt for expensive laser eye surgery. Glasses or contacts may become necessary, but to slow down the process of eye detriment— in addition to refocusing your eyes often and avoiding straining the eyes— having a diet that supplies you with the proper vitamins and nutrients can make seeing things clearly a little bit less of a hassle.


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Source: http://www.healthtips101.com/vitamins-that-help-improve-your-eyesight

Vitamin B12 tied to Alzheimer's

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Vitamin B12 may help protect against Alzheimer's disease, according to a study out Monday.

The study suggests that seniors with more of the active part of the vitamin in their blood have a lower risk of developing the disease, which eats away at the minds of one in eight Americans aged 65 and older, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

However, the findings don't necessarily mean that taking B vitamin supplements will stave off mental decline.

Just last summer, for instance, a pair of studies deflated long-held hopes that B vitamins -- like B12 and folic acid -- would help patients who had suffered strokes or heart attack (see Reuters Health stories of June 22 and August 4, 2010).

"More research is needed before we can get a conclusion on the role of vitamin B12 supplements on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease," said Dr. Babak Hooshmand from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, whose findings appear in the journal Neurology.

But he added that many elderly people suffer from B12 deficiency, so the results could turn out to be important.

"Our findings indicate that vitamin B12 and related metabolites may have an important role in Alzheimer's disease," Hooshmand told Reuters Health by e-mail.

The researchers took blood samples from 271 Finnish seniors without dementia. At a second examination about seven years later, they found 17 (six percent) had developed Alzheimer's.

Those who didn't develop the disease had higher levels of holotranscobalamin -- the active portion of vitamin B12 -- and lower levels of homocysteine, an amino acid tied to mental decline, stroke and heart disease. Folic acid was not linked to Alzheimer's.

B vitamins decrease homocysteine levels, and so have attracted a lot of attention as a potentially cheap and safe treatment. But it is unclear if they are just a sign of disease or have a causal role.

Neurologist Dr. Sudha Seshadri, of Boston University, said she wouldn't advise taking extra B vitamins unless a doctor had diagnosed signs of deficiency.

"Too much folate in the presence of B12 deficiency can be harmful," she told Reuters Health by e-mail.

However, she added, "A healthy diet with adequate B12 may still be useful in reducing risk despite the failure of initial clinical trials to show a benefit on cognition."

Vitamin B12 is found in a variety of foods, including dairy, eggs, fish and meat.

Source: http://link.reuters.com/bar78n Neurology, October 19, 2010.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39728622/ns/health/