If you eat a rich assortment of fruits, vegetables and animal foods, you shouldn't need supplements to protect the health of your eyes. Good nutrition could lower your risk of macular degeneration, according to Sherri Stastny, Ph.D., of North Dakota State University. A proper diet also prevents night blindness and lessens your chances of developing cataracts. No single food contains all the nutrients that your eyes need. If you don't eat the right foods, dietary supplements could help protect your vision.
Limitations
Unless you already suffer from eye problems related to nutritional deficiencies, taking supplements won't improve your vision. Eye supplements don't improve physical conditions such as nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism. However, taking a vitamin A supplement could restore your night vision. Vitamin A deficiency could cause dry eyes, night blindness and scarring of the corneas that leads to complete blindness. Vitamin A treatment reverses the early problems. But over-consumption of retinol, the type of vitamin A found in liver, could cause vitamin A poisoning. Ask your doctor for advice about proper diet and correct supplements.
Safe Alternatives
Your body uses beta-carotene -- the substance that gives carrots and sweet potatoes an orange color -- to produce vitamin A in safe amounts, storing the extra beta-carotene in body fat. Choosing a vitamin supplement with beta-carotene rather than retinol eliminates any chances of vitamin A toxicity. If you eat too many carrots, beta-carotene stored in body fat near your skin could give your complexion a temporary orange hue. Since foods contain many trace elements and micro-nutrients not found in supplements, eating an assortment of fruits and vegetables gives more complete nutrition than supplements alone.
Critical Compounds
Your eyes need two nutrients that your body can't manufacture internally. The carotinoids lutein and zeaxanthin play a protective role in the lens and retina of the human eye. These two compounds absorb damaging blue light that would otherwise cause oxidation damage in your eyes. Although available in supplements, lutein and zeaxanthin occur naturally in spinach, turnip greens, kale and collards. Egg yolks contain even higher amounts of lutein. Men and women eating these foods on a regular basis contracted cataracts from 18 to 50 percent less often than the general population, according to the Linus Pauling Institute.
Other Nutrients
Lack of zinc could impair your body's ability to use vitamin A, causing night blindness. Zinc supplements restore vitamin A's effectiveness, but at the risk of copper deficiency. Ask your doctor for a balanced supplement if you take zinc for more than a few weeks. You shouldn't depend on supplements alone for your eye nutrition. Research shows that natural diets high in lutein and zeaxanthin lower the incidence of macular degeneration. The studies found no relationship between levels of the two compounds in blood and the incidence of disease. Unknown elements in the same foods support eye health as well, suggests the Linus Pauling Institute.
References
- North Dakota State University; Eating for Your Eye Health; Sherri N. Stastny, et al.; July 2008
- Linus Pauling Institute; Micronutrient Information Center - Carotenoids; Jane Higdon, Ph.D.; December 2005
- Healthnotes; Complementary Medicine - Night Blindness; Jan. 21, 2009
- Virtual Chembook; Chemistry of Vision; Charles E. Ophardt; 2003
