so the retina in the back of the eye is one of the most highly metabolic
tissues in your entire body meaning it thrives on having good nutrition
and many foods and nutrients have been found to not only delay but also prevent eye diseases
and help improve your eyesight and visual function so in this video we're going to
share my five best foods for eye health and vision that you can start eating today let's take a look
hey what's up dr Allen here from the dr eye health show helping you to see your best today
and also tomorrow now number one on our list for the best foods for your eyes is funny enough
not carrots believe it or not in fact sweet potatoes and the reason for this is because sweet
potatoes have almost double the amount of vitamin a that a carrot will in a single serving perhaps
the best well-known nutrient for the eye is that of vitamin a which is an essential nutrient that's
needed for the ability to detect light within the retina and sends chemical signal to your brain to
form images to let you see this happens to be most helpful for seeing in low light situations such as
maybe driving at night time vitamin a also plays a role for prevention of dry eyes in fact eye
doctors like myself are trained to always look at the surface of the eye for the growth of something
called a bi-tot spot which is something that we see in people who are severely vitamin a deficient
yes carrots can help you with vitamin a but sweet potatoes again have a little bit more and
personally are just a little bit more my favorite let me know in the comments if you prefer carrots
or sweet potatoes number two is that of eating green leafy vegetables such as kale and spinach
and that's because green leafy vegetables have been found to have high concentrations
of lutein and zeaxanthin lutein and zeaxanthin are carotenoid pigments that are found in super
high concentrations in the macula in the back of the eye which is essentially the bullseye
of the center part of your vision that gives you good sharp reading ability and your ability
to seek colors lutein has been found to play a significant role in reducing chronic eye diseases
such as cataracts and macular degeneration and basically acts like a natural blue light blocker
for your eye there's even studies showing support that lutein can help with diabetic retinopathy and
hey if you're like me and you don't like eating salads that's okay throw this into a blender
make a green smoothie out of it it's delicious plus there's like a million and a half different
recipes for green smoothies and spinach when it's blended up you really can't taste it so if you
haven't tried them i suggest it number three on best foods for the eyes are fruits that are rich
in vitamin c such as citrus fruits such as oranges tangerines and even lemons vitamin c is a critical
antioxidant in our body and is found in really high concentrations within the aqueous fluid
inside of the eye this basically works to help prevent free radical damage from all of the
unhealthy parts of our lifestyle whether it be food daily habits or just environmental exposures
and so vitamin c is constantly helping to prevent things like cataracts and macular degeneration
inside your eye so yes get your vitamin c okay baby maybe maybe don't bite into a lemon
number four on our list are foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids some examples include having salmon
tuna other cold water fish or perhaps a nut or vegetable source such as walnuts omega 3 fatty
acids play an important role in the development of our brain at an early stage and even for the
development of the retina in the back of the eye and studies even shown that diets rich in omega-3s
have helped with patients who have macular degeneration diabetic retinopathy and even
dry eye disease some people may choose to go the route of omega 3 supplements however some studies
have found that people eating a diet source of omega 3 have had better results for different eye
health conditions versus doing supplements alone but i do recognize that there's a lot of research
on this area of omega-3 supplement specific not just in eye disease but in heart disease bone
health brain health a lot of different parts of science and it's something that i've been
studying on my own accord and hope to have further videos specifically around omega-3 supplements and
for the eye and so if that interests you at all definitely i encourage you to subscribe
to the channel if you haven't done so already that way you'll be notified when that video comes out
otherwise as always if you're considering taking any supplement i always encourage you talk to your
local eye doctor or healthcare professional in your area just to make sure it's an okay choice
for you now finally number five on our list is that of foods rich in vitamin e and zinc
i know beans and legumes are an easy way to get a lot of zinc into your diet zinc plays an important
role in helping convert vitamin a into melanin in the back of the eye which is very protective
against oxidative damage and damage from sunlight and other sources and has also been found in the
prevention of cataracts macular degeneration and helping with low light situation and night
vision problems vitamin e has also been found to be super beneficial for the health of the eye
and can be easily found in things like avocados almonds and sunflower seeds hopefully you found
this list helpful and educational if so smash that like button for me and let me know in the comments
section some of your favorite foods and if they made this list and for more tips on keeping the
eyes healthy go ahead and watch this video i made for you right over here otherwise if you want to
check out another cool video from dr eye health go and click or tap the screen down over here
thanks again for watching keep an eye on it and we'll talk to you soon
so now i'm gonna have to be careful about carrots getting stuck in my teeth