Your eyes naturally contain nutrients that nourish their tissues and structures. If you have a deficiency in a nutrient, this could affect your vision. Vitamins may play a part in helping protect your eyes from eye disease, and in many cases this could help prevent vision loss. If you have risks for certain eye conditions, your doctor may recommend dietary changes or a daily supplement to provide you with the nutrients you need for protection.
Prevention
Vitamins and other nutrients may play important roles in preventing certain eye diseases. These nutrients include vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein, zeaxanthin, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids. Each of these nutrients may offer some protection against macular degeneration, an eye disease that damages the light-sensitive area at the back of your eye called the macula. Damage will often result in significant loss of straight-ahead vision. Antioxidant nutrients like lutein, zeaxanthin and vitamins C and E may help reduce the growth of cataracts. In this eye condition, the lens inside your eye turns hard and cloudy, distorting vision.
Deficiencies
Vitamin B-12 is an important nutrient for your overall health and well-being. If you have low levels of this vitamin, you could experience vision loss. Other signs of a B-12 deficiency include shortness of breath, weakness, changes in cognition, tiredness, heart palpitations, paleness and tingling in hands and feet. Contact your doctor if you experience these or any other symptoms. Your doctor may recommend a supplement or an increase in your dietary intake of these nutrients.
Sources
Supplements contain beneficial eye nutrients, but your doctor may recommend that you select a variety of nutritious foods to ensure that you have the proper intake. Foods rich in vitamin C include spinach, oranges and strawberries. Foods rich in vitamin E include seeds and nuts, such as almonds and sunflower seeds. Most foods that contain lutein also provide zeaxanthin. These include kale, spinach and other greens, such as turnip greens and collard greens. Zinc-rich foods include oysters, beef and pork. You can find omega-3 fatty acids in salmon, mackerel, ground flaxseed and pumpkin seeds. Select foods such as beef liver, clams, salmon or fortified cereals for vitamin B-12.
Considerations
In some cases, vitamins may offer some hope for helping certain conditions. For example a study on a few glaucoma patients indicated that vitamin B-12 may help restore some of the vision lost to this eye disease, explains the Glaucoma Research Foundation. To determine the potential of this nutrient, researchers need to conduct broader studies. Despite possible benefits if vitamin B-12 and other nutrients, you should not take supplements without consulting with your doctor. High doses of some nutrients could interfere with medications or health conditions you have.
