Foods to Reduce Cataracts
The word cataract has two meanings and neither one of them is pleasant to experience. The first meaning is a huge waterfall or deluge of water, and the second meaning – the one that concerns us now–refers to a medical condiition in which the lens of an eye becomes cloudy or opaque.
More than half of all Americans either have cataracts of have had cataract surgery by the age of 80, according to the National Institutes of Heath.
Food and herbs can delay the formation or progression of cataracts but they can’t cure them.
What causes cataracts in the first place?
Most cataracts are related to aging, and they occur when the protein in the lens starts clumping together and clouding the vision. Over time, more clumping occurs and your vision progressively becomes more blurred. Why the protein clumps together isn’t clear, but possible causes include exposure to ultraviolet rays or radiation, smoking, and diabetes.
Smoking or second hand smoke exposure leads to free radicals which are highly reactive oxygen molecules that cause lots of damage inside the body. To combat oxidative damage, you naturally want to eat antioxidants rich foods.
Almonds: While wheat germ oil may have the highest concentration of vitamin E, you are unlikely to eat it on its own. Almonds, on the other hand, have 40 percent of the daily value of vitamin E in a 1-ounce serving, and you can try dry roasted almonds plain or mix them into salads or other meals.
Broccoli and spinach: A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at a specific group of antioxidants–carotenoids, which are natural pigments that colour vegetables, yellow, orange, and red–and concluded that among the list of foods high in cartenoids, broccoli and spinach were most associated with a lower risk of cataracts. Why did those two catch the researcher’s eyes? Both of them are packed with letein and zeaxanthin, the only two carotenoids that accumulate in the retina and other ocular tissues. The men in the study who were at the highest risk (fifth in terms of lutein and zeaxanthin intake) had 19% lower risk of cataracts than those in the bottom fifth of the study. The FDA hasn’t set Daily Values for lutein and zeaxanthin, but from the results of this study you can see that more is better. (The only possible risk of overdose from lutein is carotenderma, in which the skin takes on a slight yellow-orange discolouration. If you cut down on the foods that contain lutein, the unnatural coloring will vanish over time ).
Carrots: As you might guess from the name, carrots are a decent source of betacarotene. One large carrot provids 6 milligrams of betacarotene. Carrots fit well into soups, sandwiches, salads, and other dishes, so you can mix them into a variety of meals.
Kale, collard greens, and turnip greens: A few vegetables top even broccoli and spinach in the amount of lutein and zeaxanthin they contain. They are kale, collard greens, and turnip greens. But these are rarely eaten. So it’s hard to get the benefits from vegetables if they are not on your plate ( and needless to say, not going into your mouth ). Ounce for ounce, kale far surpasses all other vegetables in the amount of lutein and zeaxathin it contains. It’s just a challenge to incorporate it into your diet.
Sunflower seeds, kernels and hazelnut: Other sources of vitamin E include those crunchy goodies. Dry roasted sunflower seed kernels boast 30 percent of the Daily Value in 1 ounce, and hazelnuts have 20 percent in 1 ounce.
Sweet potatoes: One of the big risk factors for cataracts is smoking, but a 12 year old study that was published in the Archives of Ophthalmology in 2003 found that men who smoked and took 50 milligrams of beta-carotene on alternate days had a 26 percent reduced risk of cataracts compared to smokers who didn’t take beta-carotene. The best long-term action that you could do to improve your health would be to stop smoking, but I realize that not everyone is willing to take this step. If you fall into this group, maybe you can balance your smoking with a snack of sweet potatoes. A cup of sweet potatoes has 11 milligrams of beta-carotene, enough to get you started toward that goal of 50 milligrams every other day.
