What Your Family Should Eat For Healthy Eyes

There is little doubt that good diet plays a key role in eye health. Sian Porter, a consultant dietitian, identifies the most important foods to include in your diet to keep your eyes in perfect shape.

1. LEAFY GREENS

When it comes to your eyes, there’s no getting away from it: you have to eat up your greens.

That’s because they are rich in lutein, a nutrient important for eye health, found in the lens and retina. It’s thought it helps absorb damaging blue and ultraviolet light.

Kale is the richest source of lutein, containing 11.4 mg per 100 g. Though other foods such as oranges and eggs contain lutein, you would have to eat 41 oranges and 71 eggs to get the same amount of lutein as in one 80 g portion of kale.

Spinach is another excellent source, with 7.9 mg of lutein per 100 g.

Aim for 10 mg of lutein a day — a one portion of kale a day is enough. Slightly steam kale or spinach or eat spinach raw in salads.

2. COLOURFUL FRUIT & VEG

The retina needs vitamin A for night vision. Eat plenty of brightly coloured fruit and vegetables, such as carrots, sweet potato, mango and papaya, as these are a good source of beta- carotene, a nutrient the body converts into vitamin A.

Vitamin A is also found in offal (but don’t have liver or liver products, such as pâté, more than once a week and avoid if pregnant), as well as cheese, eggs, oily fish, milk, yoghurt and fortified spreads.

The recommended daily intake — known as the nutrient reference value (NRV) — for vitamin A is 0.8 mg. You can get nearly half of this from 3 tbsp of carrot (one medium carrot); one large sweet potato provides around a quarter of your needs.

Orange and red peppers are also a good source of zeaxanthin, a pigment found in high concentrations in the retina and which is thought to help its healthy function.

3. TURKEY, SHELLFISH & SEEDS

Zinc is the only mineral that has an EU health claim — this means it’s been through a rigorous review of scientific evidence — saying that it supports eye health.

Good sources include lean meat, such as turkey, wholegrains and seeds, as well as crab, oysters and sardines.

The NRV for zinc is 10 mg. A 120 g tin of sardines provides 2.6 mg; a portion of wholewheat breakfast cereal, 0.7 mg; a handful of cashews, 2 mg; and a portion of turkey casserole, 3.4 mg.

4. OILY FISH

Omega 3 Fatty Acids are found in high concentrations in the retina and it’s thought that they’re needed for the normal function of the light- sensitive cells.

Make the effort to eat at least one portion a week of oily fish, such as salmon or fresh tuna — this will provide your daily needs over the week.

Source: DailyMail