Supplements and Other Tips
To protect your eyes from macular degeneration, one thing you can do is ensure you are getting vitamins and minerals for eye health. Research done by the National Institute of Health (NIH) found that blends of vitamins and minerals called AREDS (Vitamin C, E, copper, lutein, zeaxanthin, and zinc) help reduce the risk of dry AMD by 25%.
One warning: You need to be wary about the supplement you pick up. In January 2015, the pharmacy chain CVS was sued for marketing an Advanced Health Eye supplement that supposedly was equivalent to the formula listed in published research. However, the mixture was incorrect. After an analysis of 11 eye health supplements on the market, the findings were published in the March 2015 Ophthalmology journal. Only four supplements had the correct amount of AREDS:
• PreserVision Eye Vitamin AREDS Formula
• PreserVision Eye Vitamin Lutein Formula
• PreserVision AREDS2 Formula
• ICAPS AREDS
Of course, maintaining a healthy weight and eating nutritious food can help with getting you the right amount of vitamins and nutrients to keep your eyes healthy. There are certain foods that have been known to lower the risk of eye disease, including green tea, carrots, tomatoes, mangoes, garlic, spinach, mushrooms, eggs, yogurt, seeds and nuts. Eggs, for instance, contain lutein. The vitamin C in carrots and tomatoes protects the eyes from free radicals.
Another reason to stay healthy and lean is that obesity has been linked to cataracts, macular degeneration, and glaucoma. By keeping your weight under control, you can prevent the onset of ocular diseases.
