Wondering what's good for your eyes and how to improve your vision? Find out what you can do to avoid vision problems and sharpen one of your most important senses.
Since 2000, World Sight Day has been celebrated every second Thursday in October. It's a good opportunity to consider how to improve your eyesight and visual acuity. Are your eyes red, irritated, burning, and watering excessively? It's time to change that with your diet!
Diet for eyesight
Healthy eyes are a sign of the overall well-being of the body. When vision problems arise, we reach for eye drops, which often only provide temporary relief. We often don't realize that what we eat has a huge impact on the quality of our vision. To improve our vision, it's worth starting with a balanced diet. A good vision-friendly diet should be rich in vitamins and minerals, found primarily in fruits and vegetables. To maintain long-term eye health, limit your intake of sugars and trans fatty acids, which can double the risk of macular degeneration. It's worth swapping fatty meats and meats for lean poultry, as saturated fats can worsen the condition of the retinal blood vessels. It's also worth eating more fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel), which contain omega-3 fatty acids and protect against eye diseases that are more common in old age.
Vitamins to improve eyesight
Very often, deficiencies of certain nutrients can lead to visual dysfunction. This occurs when the body lacks vitamin A (beta-carotene), which fights free radicals and plays an important role in the proper functioning of the retina. Too little of this vitamin can even lead to reduced visual acuity (night blindness), and any deficiency can cause dry eye syndrome. Beta-carotene is found primarily in carrots, dark leafy vegetables, tomatoes, and peaches. However, for it to be properly absorbed through the walls of the small intestine, it requires the help of vitamin E. It is found in vegetable oils, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, nuts, and sesame seeds. Vitamin C also plays a crucial role in vision – it is essential for the proper synthesis of collagen, which ensures the strength of the eye's blood vessels and regenerates the cornea. Vitamin C deficiency causes vessel fragility, resulting in subconjunctival hemorrhages and strokes, which damage vision. This vitamin can be found in citrus fruits, parsley, cabbage, peppers, currants, and strawberries. Your daily diet should include B vitamins, which alleviate eye strain, improve optic nerve function, and improve visual acuity. These vitamins can be found in whole-wheat and whole-grain bread, groats, brown rice, and cereals.
How to improve visual acuity?
Antioxidants are crucial for our bodies, protecting us from the harmful effects of free radicals, which can also permanently damage our eyesight. Substances that help improve visual acuity can be found in spinach, broccoli, and green lettuce. A sufficient dose of antioxidants can strengthen our eyes, slow retinal aging, prevent eye diseases, and ensure their long-term proper functioning. It's also worth supplementing lutein deficiencies—a yellow plant pigment that positively affects retinal function and prevents macular degeneration. Lutein effectively protects the eyes from ultraviolet radiation and is found in green and orange fruits and vegetables.
Minerals for healthy eyes
Selenium, zinc and copper are minerals that cannot be missing in the diet for eye health.Zinc, found in eggs, whole-grain bread, and fish, is involved in the production of rhodopsin, which helps us see at night. Selenium, found in seafood, wheat germ, garlic, and onions, has antioxidant properties, while copper, found in nuts and avocados, increases the strength of the eye's blood vessels. Blueberries and lingonberries are an invaluable ally in the fight to improve vision, as they contain more than a dozen types of anthocyanins, compounds that improve the elasticity of capillaries and regenerate eye enzymes damaged by free radicals. These compounds improve blood circulation in the eyeball. Additionally, blueberries have anti-inflammatory and bacteriostatic properties, making them particularly recommended for conjunctivitis.
If you want comprehensive eye care, consider trusted dietary supplements. By choosing Noble Health products, you can be sure your diet is supplemented with essential vitamins and minerals, and your eagle-eyed eyes will allow you to keep an eye on all our new products!
