Dry eyes occur when they lack enough tears for nourishment. Tears help moisten the eyes, wash away debris, prevent infections and keep your eyes healthy. Typically, dry eye symptoms include grittiness, burning, pain, redness, heavy eyelids and excessive tears followed by dryness. These symptoms can occur due to such factors as age, health, environmental conditions and nutritional deficiencies. Proper nutrition is an important part of eye health and one way to prevent dry eyes.
Vitamin A
Vitamin A plays a significant role in eye health. This essential vitamin forms the part of the eye that helps you see at night and protects the surfaces of your eyes. Vitamin A deficiency can cause impaired vision and factors into dry eyes. The Linus Pauling Institute notes that vitamin A deficiency among children in developing nations is the leading preventable cause of blindness. Sources of vitamin A include milk, cheese, eggs, liver, broccoli, spinach, pumpkin and sweet potatoes.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is an antioxidant vitamin that supports your eyes and overall health. It is highly concentrated in all the tissues of your eyes, including tear films, and helps protect your eyes from damage. This important antioxidant vitamin can reduce the risk for cataracts, age-related macular degeneration, visual loss and dry eyes. Ophthalmologist Dr. Colin Chan notes that supplementation of vitamin C can lead to an improvement of symptoms and tear evaporation rates in patients with dry eyes. You can get vitamin C in citrus fruits, greens, peppers and tomatoes.
Zinc
Zinc is an essential mineral that supports your eyes. It helps vitamin A in reducing the risk for night blindness; deficiencies can result in impaired vision. Like vitamin C, zinc is highly concentrated in your eyes and supports eye nourishment. The American Optometric Association recommends zinc for individuals diagnosed as being at high risk for age-related macular degeneration. When included with other essential nutrients, zinc can slow the progression of AMD by 25 percent and visual acuity loss by 19 percent. You can find zinc in beef, turkey, oysters and Dungeness crab.
Considerations
Other nutrients, including B vitamins, vitamin E, potassium, lutein and zeaxanthin, can also prevent dry eyes. Ophthalmologist Dr. Marc Grossman, writing on the Visionworks USA website, notes that potassium is usually very low in dry eye patients and likely the most important mineral for alleviating dry eye symptoms. Your doctor can recommend the correct vitamin and mineral values for your condition.
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