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Many households start the day with a healthy breakfast and perhaps a supplement or two to help the body stay healthy. I expect there is a rogue bottle of multi-vitamins in most cabinets across the UK. But were you aware that specific vitamins can directly affect your eyes?
Researchers from the University College London Opthamology Institute recently published that further to testing on mice, it was found that Vitamin D supplements appeared to reduce ageing effects in eyes and improve the vision of older specimens. Taking this specific vitamin could assist in fighting age related eye conditions such as AMD (Macular Degeneration). But how?
Cells in the retina detect light as it comes into the eyes and then sends our brains a message. The retina needs more energy than any other tissue in the body, so it has to have a healthy blood supply. With ageing, the high energy demand produces debris and there is progressive inflammation in the retina in all mammals. In humans this can result in a decline of up to 30% in the numbers of light receptive cells in the eye by the time we are 70 years and so lead to poor quality vision.
The researchers found that when old mice were given vitamin D for just six weeks, inflammation was reduced, the debris partially removed, and tests showed that their vision had improved.
Full clinical trials in humans needs to be executed before it can be confirmed that the elderly should start taking vitamin D supplements, but there is growing evidence that many of us, especially in the Western world, are deficient in vitamin D, and this could be providing severe health implications.
Xerophthalmia a common cause of blindness in children in developing countries, proves how nutrition and eye health are linked. This condition is caused by a lack of vitamin A in a person's diet and could be prevented by eating fresh vegetables, fat (animal and plant) and protein (e.g. meat, eggs, cheese, fish, poultry, milk, yoghurt, dairy products, nuts, seeds, pulses and grains). More recently it has been suggested that two types of antioxidants, known as 'carotenoids', called Lutein and Zeaxanthin may also help with eye health. Studies have found that people who have a good diet, rich in carotenoids, particularly lutein and zeaxanthin, have a lower risk of developing AMD.
By studying the fundamental biology of one organ scientists can begin to draw links between a number of diseases in the hope of developing preventive strategies.