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