Antioxidant protection for weary eyes

Screen Saver

A few years ago I received an e-mail from the owner of a California health food restaurant. He told me he often prints out the e-Alert and places copies on tables for his customers.

But if you’re not fortunate enough to be reading this e-Alert off a printed page while waiting for an avocado salad, it’s safe to say you’re probably reading it off an illuminated computer screen. And if you’re like me, you probably spend way too much time peering into the Microsoft glow of that screen. If that’s the case, we both might want to treat our eyes to some lutein.

Blood simple

Lutein is an antioxidant. And while your body can’t produce lutein, you’re born with a small amount of it in the macula – the spot on the retina at the back of your eyeball where light is collected and assimilated for the optic nerve. Lutein actually functions as a light filter to protect the macula.

Researchers at Peking University in Beijing recently reported on a trial in which they assessed the effects of lutein supplementation in nearly 40 subjects with long-term exposure to computer monitor screens.

Subjects were divided into three groups to receive either six grams of lutein daily, 12 grams daily, or a placebo.

Tests conducted at the beginning and the end of the 12-week intervention period showed that visual function and contrast sensitivity improved in both of the lutein groups, but not the placebo group.

The Peking team also had the foresight to take blood tests before and after intervention. Analysis showed an increase in levels of serum lutein concentrations in the supplement groups. I offer this note for those medical mainstream critics who like to dismissively claim that dietary supplements provide nothing more than “expensive urine.” (Yes, I’m talking to you, Nancy Snyderman.)

Bring on the avocado

E-Alert readers already know that lutein is an important antioxidant that supports general vision health and helps prevent age-related macular degeneration – the primary cause of blindness in people over the age of 50.

Lutein is a carotenoid, and is most abundant in spinach, eggs, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, oranges, lettuce and celery. So if you plan to throw together a lutein powerhouse salad, you might consider adding some avocado.

Like eggs, avocados are packed with nutritious components such as magnesium, folate, vitamins B, E, and K, omega-3 fatty acids, and lutein. But in addition to supplying a few extra milligrams of lutein, avocados may assist in one more important way.

In a 2004 study from Iowa State University, researchers fed subjects a salad with avocado or a salad without avocado. Blood tests showed that subjects who ate an avocado with their salad absorbed more than four times as much lutein as subjects who didn’t eat avocados. In other tests, eating an avocado helped subjects absorb more lycopene from salsa and beta-carotene from salad. Talk to your doctor before supplementing with lutein.

Sources:
“A 12-Week Lutein Supplementation Improves Visual Function in Chinese People with Long-Term Computer Display Light Exposure” British Journal of Nutrition, Published online ahead of print 2/19/09, journals.cambridge.org