Poor vision has a variety of causes, and no food or substance can instantly improve vision. That being said, maintaining the eyesight a person has a choice of foods can help with that, and carrots being integrated into a daily diet is often a suggestion. Nutritionists usually classify foods by their effects on the body due to its components. Carrots have several substances that help a person’s eyes maintain health: carotenoids, polyphenols, vitamins, and minerals.
Carotenoids
Carotenoids refer to the yellow and red pigments that result in orange carrots. Carrots come in various colors, such as black, white, purple, yellow, and red, besides the standard grocery store orange. Carrots contain a-carotene and b-carotene. One seven-and-a-half-inch long carrot would contain 2503.44 micrograms of alpha-carotene and 5965.2 micrograms of beta-carotene. Once in the body, the two convert to Vitamin A(retinol). Retinol goes through a process and becomes retinal. Rod cells and cone cells contain pigments that line the eye’s retina, and the retina becomes a component of rhodopsin, the primary pigment. Rhodopsin pairs with the electrical signal for sight interpretation when the eyes begin processing visual information. Then, the retinoid cycle starts, and the process starts to get ready for the next sunbeam to reach the retina.
Polyphenols
Polyphenols define as antioxidant phytochemicals that have a hydroxy group (hydrogen and oxygen) abbreviated OH or HO for bonding to one another. These polyphenols play with rhodopsin, help the pigment act, and then protect the retina from oxidative stress from cell-damaging free radicals by neutralizing it. Cells function and clean up, and there is no damage because there is no inflammation to start a disease process in the eye. All because you chose to eat a carrot and provide the body with resources.
The Triad of Eye Health
The carrot provides or provides the ingredients for carotenoids, polyphenols, and vitamins. All three have multiple functions of anticarcinogenic properties, decreasing inflammation and then regulating immune responses in the eye. Humans eating carrots in studies have shown decreases in lung, breast, and colon cancer since its core substances reduce free radicals. Disease processes often begin with inflammation so decreasing inflammation processes promotes quicker healing throughout the body. Carrots contain minerals such as potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P), and sodium(NA) in one carrot. It gives a succinct path to maintaining eye health. As stated earlier, carrots cannot improve eye health; it only maintains what is there.
Conclusion
The staff in Houston at the laser eye clinic can share much information about ways to maintain eye health. Give a call for a chat about what brochures are available or if any recipes are known. It’s only another way to prepare for laser eye surgery or that annual exam. Before and after laser eye surgery, having carrots would promote healing and balance within the eye, upping the likelihood of a successful outcome. Making carrots a part of the weekly diet functions as a preventative during times of stress or healing. The practice would not only promote eye health but general health throughout the body. Making it a cost-effective way to take care of family and personal eyesight.
Since 2005, Houston LASIK has been providing surgical vision correction technologies to patients from the Greater Houston Area and all over the world. The center specializes in multiple premium technologies including LASIK, EVO ICL (Intraocular Collamer Lens), ASA (Advanced Surface Ablation), and RLE (Refractive Lens Exchange). Houston LASIK & Eye is well known for using state-of-the-art technology and personalized care to help patients see their best. Patients receive customized surgical solutions from a team of highly experienced and award-winning ophthalmologists and optometrists. For more information, visit www.houston-lasik.com or call 281-240-0478.
Sources
- https://www.phytojournal.com/archives/2021/vol10issue1/PartR/10-1-180-561.pdf
- https://acspublisher.com/journals/index.php/ijirem/article/view/11271/10146
- https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/nutrition-and-eye-health#:~:text=Antioxidants%20%E2%80%94%20nutrients%20that%20remove%20potentially,into%20this%20category%20of%20nutrients.
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?contenttypeid=76&contentid=11124-11 - https://www.news-medical.net/health/How-are-Carotenoids-Related-to-Good-Vision.aspx#:~:text=Vitamin%20A%20and%20vision,an%20important%20role%20in%20vision.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780124017177000423#:~:text=The%20results%20of%20studies%20presented,retinal%20cells%20and%20ocular%20tissues.
