Natural Support for Healthy Eyes

Are you concerned about maintaining healthy vision? Your eyes are incredible organs, yet they need sufficient nutrients to function effectively. Read on to discover how to give your eyes a natural helping hand.

How Do Eyes Work?

Light shines into your eyes through your pupil. It passes through the lens, situated towards the front of your eye. The lens converges light rays onto your retina, located at the back of your eye. This contains special cells called photoreceptors. These can detect light and colour, and convert the images they receive into electrical impulses sent to your optic nerve. The signals then travel along the nerve to your brain where they’re processed into an image.

It’s a brilliant system, but sometimes eyes experience problems. Let’s have a look at some common eye diseases now.

• Macular Degeneration

This is the most common cause of sight loss in the UK. It usually affects people over 50 – in fact, it’s often referred to as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). However, it can affect younger people, too.

AMD is caused by damage to the cells in the retina located in an area called the macula. These cells create the central part of images seen by your eye and are particularly good at detecting colour and fine detail.

Damage to the macula results in blurring of central vision. For example, straight lines may start to look crooked or broken.

There are two forms of macular degeneration, known as wet and dry. In dry AMD, the most common form, unstable byproducts of metabolism called free radicals damage the macula cells. Vision then slowly deteriorates. In the case of wet AMD, blood vessels grow into the area and leak fluid, damaging the macula. This can sometimes have a more rapid onset.

• Glaucoma

Nicknamed the silent thief of vision, glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness if left untreated. As glaucoma develops, increased pressure within the eye causes damage to the optic nerve.

This pressure arises because of an imbalance between the production and drainage of fluid, known as aqueous humor, inside the eyeball. If this fluid isn’t cleared away rapidly enough, for example due to a blockage, intraocular pressure will increase.

Most incidences of glaucoma develop slowly as fluid drainage gradually becomes blocked. It generally doesn’t cause symptoms in its initial stages, with the first sign being a loss of peripheral vision. For this reason, it’s important to have regular eye checks since these can pick up glaucoma early.

A second type of glaucoma comes on quickly, caused by a sudden blockage to the fluid outflow. This represents a medical emergency. Glaucoma does tend to run in families and can be linked to high blood pressure or poor blood sugar control.

• Cataracts

When cataracts develop, the eye’s lens becomes damaged, causing cloudy vision and problems focussing. Cataracts are a common age-related eye condition and are caused by proteins in the lens clumping together, meaning it becomes opaque.

Damage from UV radiation is a common cause, as well as fluctuating blood sugar levels and elevated inflammation, leading to free radical damage to the lens.

Which Nutrients are Important for Eye Health?

• Certain antioxidants can be useful to help prevent free radical damage to the eyes. These include green tea catechins and anthocyanidins (1), found in red and blue fruits such as berries. Meanwhile, lutein, zeaxanthin (2), and astaxanthin (3) are antioxidants, known as carotenoids, naturally concentrated in the macula. They have been found in research to improve vision in people with AMD. Carotenoids naturally occur in red peppers, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, and green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale.

• Fatty acids are essential to eye function. Omega-3 is particularly important since it’s generally low in most people’s diets. It’s found in oily fish, along with seeds and nuts.

• Other nutrients important for eye health include vitamin C, crucial for keeping the walls of tiny blood vessels healthy, and to function as an antioxidant for preventing free radical damage. Vitamin C has been shown to have a neuroprotective action, so it may be useful in cases of glaucoma (4). Zinc, vitamin E, and vitamin A are all important for eye health. So too is beta carotene, an ingredient your body uses to make vitamin A.

• Look after your mouth. Scientists now know your eye has a bacterial population, a microbiome, of its own, as does your mouth. Some people with poor oral health are more prone to eye diseases such as glaucoma and cataracts. It’s believed pathogenic bacteria from a disordered oral microbiome can lead to elevated inflammation, adversely affecting eye health.

• It makes sense to avoid UV damage to your eyes. Sunlight causes cellular damage through free radical formation. Always wear UV-blocking sunglasses when out in sunshine.

Integrated Support for Healthy Eyes

Eyes don’t work in isolation. Looking after your whole-body health, managing inflammation, and supporting your immune system are all important to protect your eye health. In fact, like the skin, poor eye health is often a sign of ill-health elsewhere in the body.

We offer a comprehensive testing service to uncover the root causes of your health issues, alongside expert practitioner support, tailored to your circumstances. Book your Integrative Health Assessment today and start your journey to optimal health.

References

1. Therapeutic Effects of Anthocyanins for Vision and Eye Health - PMC
2. Intakes of Lutein, Zeaxanthin, and Other Carotenoids and Age-Related Macular Degeneration During 2 Decades of Prospective Follow-up | Macular Diseases | JAMA Ophthalmology | JAMA Network
3. Clinical Applications of Astaxanthin in the Treatment of Ocular Diseases: Emerging Insights - PMC
4. Vitamin C protects retinal ganglion cells via SPP1 in glaucoma and after optic nerve damage - PubMed