Taking care of your eyes naturally is essential. Even more so today, when we spend more and more time in front of screens. To help our vision stay in top shape, we need to identify the most important vitamins for our eyes.
In this article:
1) Vitamins for the eyes
2) Vitamins: countering the causes of visual degeneration
3) Adapting your diet and habits
Vitamins for the eyes
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is essentially formed by beta-carotene found in a whole host of foods, mainly orange vegetables such as:
- 🍠 sweet potato
- 🥕 carrot
- 🎃 pumpkin... etc.
Moreover, you will most often hear about beta-carotene directly or sometimes retinoids rather than vitamin A.
👉 Vitamin A has beneficial effects on the entire body and acts on many levels, but its involvement in eye health is now clearly recognized, making it a must when you want to take care of your vision.
So, in your diet, opt for a regular intake of vegetables rich in beta-carotene.
You can also eat the liver of fish or farm animals, which is very rich in vitamin A that is directly assimilable by the body, but this menu won't be to everyone's taste.
Note, however, that ANSES points out certain risks linked to the overconsumption of vitamin A:
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During pregnancy, "excess vitamin A is associated with congenital malformations. Pregnant women should not consume liver regularly, because this food contains large quantities of directly assimilable vitamin A" (ANSES source)
Vitamins C and E
What do these two vitamins have in common for the eyes? Their antioxidant properties.
👉 Both are considered to be able to reduce the risk of eye diseases such as cataracts, although this has not been proven by scientific studies. Nevertheless, vitamin C and vitamin E are two essential supplements for the good health of your body in general, and consuming them cannot do any harm.
Foods rich in vitamin C, including fruits and vegetables:
- 🍊 orange
- 🥝 kiwi
- 🍓 strawberry
- 🥦 broccoli
- 🫑 bell pepper.
Foods rich in vitamin E:
- 🐿️ walnuts and almonds
- 🥜 peanuts
- 🟠 dried apricots
In general, consuming foods containing natural antioxidants like vitamins C and E is a good way to slow down the aging of your eyes.
Vitamin D
Among the vitamins that still keep quite a few secrets, vitamin D is well-established!
👉 Indeed, while some recent studies have established a link between vitamin D deficiencies and certain pathologies such as age-related macular degeneration, it is still too early to really understand why and how this is explained. Nevertheless, this vitamin D seems to have more than one trick up its sleeve, and it actively participates in increasing calcium and phosphorus concentrations in the blood.
This function, which is essential for the proper functioning of our body, plays an important, or even decisive, role in the good health of our muscles or our nerve endings, for example, which could explain its utility in maintaining our vision.
Some publications also mention the usefulness of vitamin D in the context of dry eyes, insisting that it would help to limit them.
🌞 To provide your body with vitamin D, nothing could be simpler. 10 to 15 minutes of daily exposure to sunlight is enough (don't forget your sunglasses to protect yourself from UV rays all the same).
Be careful to always protect your eyes well; we are not talking here about staring at the sun (with or without glasses).
Zinc
Zinc is a mineral that allows, in particular, the transport of vitamin A between the liver and the retina in order to promote the production of melanin.
Melanin is an essential pigment that protects our body from the sun, among other things. But remember what we were talking about earlier regarding our favorite star: in small doses yes, high exposure no.
👉 Zinc therefore allows, through its transporter functions, to improve the protection offered by melanin to your eye but also to the rest of your skin.
You will find zinc in meat (veal liver and beef in particular), in seafood such as oysters, crab, and lobster, but also in pumpkin seeds, cashews, pecans, and other peanuts. During the holidays, stop feeling guilty and treat yourself! It's good for your health!
The main causes of visual degeneration
Dry eyes, age-related macular degeneration, blurred vision, headaches... These are all problems that you may suffer from now or in the future.
But to better anticipate them, you must first understand what causes them.
👵 Aging
Yes, as we age, our vision tends to decline and the eye tends to tire.
The most common sign of eye aging is presbyopia. This difficulty in seeing up close is caused by a loss of flexibility in the lens. It is sometimes compensated for in nearsighted people but most often requires consulting an ophthalmologist and using prescription glasses.
With age, dry eyes will also tend to intensify. They are also more common in people who spend a lot of time in front of screens.
Despite everything, there are ways today to slow down the aging of the retina and keep our eyes in good health.
🌞 The sun
Although necessary for our body and full of good vibes, the sun is also harmful to our eyes with too much exposure.
It is essential to protect your eyes from it by wearing suitable glasses, especially in the mountains or in places where there is significant glare.
💩 Poor hygiene
Wearing your contact lenses in the shower, swimming with them, sleeping with them... Stop! You risk causing infections.
Not wearing protective glasses to perform work like welding, cutting materials, etc. Stop that too!
Rubbing your eyes too regularly can also lead to contamination and therefore create infections.
Even more surprisingly, using expired makeup could also be at the origin of eye contamination. So, pay attention.
👨💻 Screens and blue light
It is proven that screens play a significant role in the appearance of certain eye disorders such as dry eye. More and more studies also show their contribution to pathologies such as AMD (blue light is the one that contributes the most!).
Indeed, the number of times you blink in front of a screen is much lower than during other activities. This decreases the hydration of the eye and thus promotes the sensation of dryness.
Some of these problems can be limited or delayed by adapting our diet to the needs of our eyes. But in the absence of a perfect diet, you can resort to specific vitamin treatments.
Adapting your diet and habits
🥗 The Mediterranean diet
Dr. C. Schneiderrouhaud (Ophthalmologist) and nutritionist C. Farrugia from the Montpellier University Hospital have published a very simple and comprehensive document on this subject, highlighting the diet to prioritize to avoid or limit the risks of age-related macular degeneration.
We speak of Mediterranean foods because the base of this menu is made of vegetables common in this type of meal and fatty fish such as salmon, herring, sardines, etc.
This diet will allow you to consume the products necessary for optimal intake of the various elements mentioned above and therefore maintain good vision.
💊 Dietary supplements
If you cannot manage to maintain an optimal diet, you can opt for dietary supplements.
Be careful, however, to choose recognized brands and preferably buy them at a pharmacy. Also, take the time to read the recommendations (particular attention should be paid to pregnant women) and to calculate the dosage. Vitamins are good, but like everything else, never in excess.
👩💻 Controlling your screen exposure
The blue light emitted by screens can promote the appearance of certain symptoms such as: dry eyes, headaches, heavy eyelids, stinging eyes, etc.
To limit these problems, try to limit the time you spend in front of screens, especially in the evening or in low light. During the day at the office, take regular breaks by looking out the window (that's where you'll be most productive), 1 minute every half hour—that's all it takes, and you'll already feel better.
Straighten your head, look into the distance, and rest your eyes.
🤓 Protecting your eyes
We have already mentioned the case of the sun and the need to protect our eyes from its UV rays by wearing suitable glasses.
For blue light, it's the same thing. You can opt for protection by means of a screen filter to add to your computer monitor or for blue light glasses.
The operation is the same: by filtering the harmful part of the light spectrum responsible for the aforementioned annoyances, you will significantly reduce the discomfort linked to prolonged exposure to screens and limit the appearance of certain eye diseases in the long term.
👩⚕️ Consulting an ophthalmologist regularly
It's quite simple, but if you feel certain visual disorders, the first thing to do is to make an appointment with a specialized doctor.
The latter will be able to check if you need correction and advise you on how to preserve your eyes on a daily basis.
From the age of 50, it is advisable to schedule 1 appointment per year, and if you wear glasses before that age, at least 1 appointment every 2 years to have your vision checked.
In summary
Vitamins A, C, E, D, and zinc!
Zinc and certain vitamins will have a more significant impact on eye health, but overall, all vitamins are important for the body. Carotene and foods rich in carotenoids will help your body preserve your eyes from certain eye diseases.
On the other hand, vitamins are not a miracle cure! They support the proper functioning of our body on a daily basis, and in particular eye health, but cannot be enough to fight against macular degeneration or other vision diseases.
Good eating habits
Rather than opting directly for dietary supplements, start by adapting your daily diet by adding fatty fish, carrots, bell peppers, oranges, and strawberries to the menu!
Daily precautions
Protect your eyes from the sun and blue light by wearing suitable glasses or limiting your exposure.
Regular monitoring
Take the time to consult an ophthalmologist as soon as you feel visual disorders or headaches to check the state of your vision.
