Nutrition and Your Eyes

Can eating carrots really give you better eyesight?

“Eating carrots is good for your eyes,” is probably something you’ve heard at least once in your life. But how true is it? While adding carrots into your diet won’t magically help you regain 20/20 vision, carrots (and other foods like carrots) contain the kind of nutrients that’s essential to keep your eyes healthy. Keep reading to discover why, and what kind of food you can eat to help with healthy vision.

The two most important vitamins for maintaining healthy eyes are vitamin A and beta-carotene. Vitamin A is plentiful in carrots, but also in other foods like fish, liver and leafy green vegetables. Getting enough vitamin A is important in helping reduce the risk of macular degeneration and vision loss. It also helps the immune system fight away things like eye infections. Beta-carotene is only found in fruits and vegetables (and not in animal products), but more than just carrots—it’s also in peppers, sweet potatoes, spinach, cantaloupes and more.

Once upon a time it used to be thought that beta carotene would give you “super night vision.” That’s since been disproven as a myth, and eating a bunch of carrots every day isn’t likely to give you any kind of enhanced vision. However, it’s still an important nutrient for keeping the cornea healthy, especially since it’s exposed to so much blue light during the day. Beta-carotene can also be converted into vitamin A, which does help in low light conditions.

Vitamin A isn’t the only nutrient that contributes to healthy eyesight. Vitamin E has antioxidant properties that can fight the kind of free radicals that damage proteins in the eye. Vitamins C and B are also important in reducing the risk of eye diseases like cataracts and macular degeneration. In other words, like your doctor always said: a well-balanced diet is key to maintaining optimal health—in your eyes and otherwise.

Besides getting the right nutrients, regular eye checkups are also vital in keeping your eyes healthy. To schedule an appointment with Sterling Vision, call 866-439-3588 or schedule online.