Vision, like smell, taste, touch and hearing, is easy to take for granted. It is only when he is in decline that his contribution becomes truly manifest. Although vision loss is inevitable, for most people blindness is not.
In fact, you can prevent blindness by leading a healthy lifestyle.
The top of the stack is to include enough vitamin A in your diet because the vitamin can directly cause blindness.
In fact, vitamin A deficiency it is the “leading cause of preventable blindness” in children worldwide, warns the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).
Vitamin A plays an important role in your vision. As the AAO explains, in order to see the full spectrum of light, your eye needs to produce certain pigments for your retina to function properly.
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The health body continues: “Vitamin A deficiency stops the production of these pigments, leading to night blindness.
“Your eye also needs vitamin A to nourish other parts of your eye, including the cornea.”
He adds: “Without enough vitamin A, your eyes can’t produce enough moisture to keep them properly lubricated.”
How to recharge vitamin A
Good sources of vitamin A (retinol) include:
- Cheese
- Eggs
- oily fish
- Fortified Low-Fat Spreads
- milk and yogurt
- Liver and liver products such as liverwurst – this is a particularly rich source of vitamin A, so you may be at risk of getting too much vitamin A if you take it more than once a week (if you are pregnant, you should avoid eat liver or liver products).
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“If you take supplements containing vitamin A, make sure your daily intake from food and supplements does not exceed 1.5mg (1500µg),” advises the NHS.
Other dietary causes of blindness
There’s also strong evidence that eating too much “junk food” can precipitate vision deterioration.
Clinical scientists from Bristol Medical School and Bristol Eye Hospital examined the case of a teenage patient who first visited his GP complaining of tiredness.
The link between his nutritional status and vision was not detected until much later, and by then his visual impairment had become permanent.
After further investigation, the researchers concluded that the patient’s “junk food” diet and limited intake of nutritional vitamins and minerals resulted in the development of nutritional optic neuropathy.
Nutritional optic neuropathy is a dysfunction of the optic nerve that is important for vision. The condition is reversible, if caught early.
But if left untreated, it can lead to permanent structural damage to the optic nerve and blindness.
Dr Denize Atan, lead author of the study and Senior Consultant Professor of Ophthalmology at Bristol Medical School and Clinical Lead for Neuro-Ophthalmology at Bristol Eye Hospital, said: “Our vision has such a huge impact on quality of life, education, employment, and social interactions. and mental health. This case highlights the impact of diet on visual and physical health, and the fact that calorie intake and BMI are not reliable indicators of nutritional status.”
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