Vitamins for Eye Health

Healthy diet and exercises play an important role in eye health. Aging, infections, poor diet, wrong reading habits, excessive stress on eyes, lack of rest, lack of exercise can affect your vision. Blurred vision, double vision, short sightedness, etc. are common vision problems. Chronic diseases like diabetes lead to impaired vision. Regular eye exercises, developing good reading habits, maintaining eye hygiene, offering sufficient rest to the eyes and following a healthy diet help prevent eye problems. To maintain the health of your eyes, you need to provide all essential nutrients to the body. A nutrient rich diet helps keep diseases at bay and ensures a healthy life. Here is an overview of necessary vitamins for eye health.

Nutrients for Healthy Eyesight

Certain vitamins and minerals promote absorption of some other vitamins and minerals. For example, vitamin D promotes absorption of calcium while vitamin C helps boost absorption of iron and calcium. Iron is essential for formation of hemoglobin which supplies oxygen to all cells and tissues. Lack of oxygen can damage your vision seriously. Thus all these nutrients promote the functions of the body organs in several ways.

Type of Vitamin	Eye Benefits	Food Sources	Daily Recommended Intake
Vitamin A	Protects against night blindness Helps prevent dry eyes Anti oxidant and anti carcinogenic vitamin Increases resistance against infections Improves vision significantly Eases glaucoma	Carotenoids are present in fruits and vegetables which are yellow, red, green and orange. Examples: Carrot, Broccoli, Sweet potato, Butter, Kale, Spinach, Pumpkin, Collard greens, Cheddar cheese, Cantaloupe melon, Eggs, Apricot, Papaya, Mango, Pea, Milk, Beef or Chicken liver, Cod liver oil, Butter	Men and boys over 10 years: 1000 mcg Women and girls over 10 years: 800 mcg
Vitamin C	Strengthens the immune system and hence helps maintain eye health. Helps prevent cataracts Carries anti oxidant and anti carcinogenic properties Protects from eye infections Enhances the vision quality Helps prevent macular degeneration	Liver, Carrot, Broccoli, Sweet potato, Butter, Kale, Spinach, Pumpkin, Collard greens, Cheddar cheese, Cantaloupe melon, Eggs, Apricot, Papaya, Mango, Pea, Milk, Sweet peppers (red or green), Strawberries, Oranges.	Men and boys over 10 years: 65 mg Women and girls over 10 years: 75 mg
Vitamin D	Helps increase your immunity and thus plays an important role in eye health. Helps prevent eye infections Promotes good vision Lowers the risk of macular degeneration	Exposure to Sunlight is the best source. Food sources: Tuna, Mackerel, Salmon and Sardines, Cod liver oil, Fortified milk and juice, Beef liver, Egg yolk	Infants, children and adults up to 50 years of age : 200 IU Adults 51 to 70 years old : 400 IU Adults above 70 years old : 600 IU
Vitamin E	Makes your immune system strong enough to prevent eye diseases. Increased immunity helps fight eye infections without damaging eye health Helps in retaining good vision With the help of carotenoids and vitamin C, it lowers the risk of age related macular degeneration	Avocado, Peach, Papaya, Kiwi, Pumpkin, Swiss chard, Almonds, Hazelnuts, Pine nuts, Olive oil, Sunflower oil, Sunflower seeds, Turkey baken, Eggs, Sardines, Herrings	Children between 4-8 years : 10.5 IU Adults and Pregnant women : 22.5 IU Lactating women : 28.5 IU

Apart from these vitamins there are certain other nutrients like zinc (present in oysters, beef, crab, turkey/dark meat), selenium (present in seafood like shrimp, crab, salmon, halibut, Brazil nuts, fortified noodles, brown rice), omega 3 fatty acids (found in fish, fish oil, flaxseed oil), lutein and zeaxanthin (found in spinach, kale, turnip greens, collard greens, squash), flavonoids (from tea, red wine, citrus fruits, bilberries, blueberries, cherries, legumes, soy products) help prevent cataract and macular degeneration and thus help maintain eye vision.

I have described the best vitamins for eye health in the above chart but actually, vitamins that are good for your eyes include all vitamins. Since every vitamin and mineral plays an important role in strengthening your immune system and maintaining your overall health, you need to follow a balanced diet to maintain your overall health. Excessive consumption of any vitamin or mineral to enjoy the characteristic health benefits can lead to toxicity. A healthy diet should contain all vitamins and minerals in correct proportions. Directly or indirectly, every vitamin is essential for eye health.