Save your aging eyes with this surprising daily habit

Which of these habits do you think will help you best dodge that vision-stealer known as macular degeneration?

1. Wearing sunglasses whenever you’re outdoors.
2. Crunching on plenty of carrots.
3. Getting regular eye exams.
4. Eating an orange every day.
5. All of the above.

If you chose E, you’re right! They’re all great ideas.

But the one concerning oranges… well, that turns out to be much more important than you could ever guess.

A new study, one that spanned 15 years and involved close to 3,000 people, has surprisingly discovered that sunny, round fruit is a superpower where your eyes are concerned.

And the findings from this research could be your secret weapon to keeping your eyes healthy and your vision clear no matter what your age!

Move over apples

Researchers in Australia recently dived into the data contained in one of the biggest and most comprehensive population studies ever done focusing on the eyes.

Called the Blue Mountains Eye Study, this research, which started in 1992, periodically gave volunteers complete eye exams, other medical tests and detailed questionnaires during the course of the investigation.

And when the results were carefully tallied, it became increasingly clear that the folks who didn’t get macular degeneration had one thing in common: They all consumed oranges.

A lot of oranges.

In fact, Aussies who had at least one serving of oranges a day knocked the risk of this common eye disease down by a whopping 60 percent compared to those who shunned the fruit.

I think the idea of having an apple a day has just met its match!

Now, if that sounds like you’ll need to start planting orange trees in your backyard, the researchers said that even eating one orange a week can offer “significant benefits” for your eyes.

So, what’s the secret sauce that oranges provide in protecting our peepers?

It wasn’t the vitamin C, the researcher said, but rather the flavonoids — powerful antioxidants contained in colorful fruits and veggies.

But here’s the most interesting part of the study: Other common foods high in flavonoids, such as apples, didn’t show the same protection against macular degeneration.

So, once again, the mysteries of the compounds found in Mother Nature’s pharmacy remain elusive to scientists. Apparently, it’s not just the healthy flavonoids that protect your eyes, but the combination of everything nutritious (and delicious) contained in an orange.

Macular degeneration is sneaky. Symptoms of the “dry” version, which is the most common, come on gradually. It’s caused by the eye’s macula thinning out, with small pieces of protein growing on the retina.

As it progresses, it can destroy your central vision, leaving you with dark, empty spots directly in front of you.

In the less-common “wet” version, which can steal your vision even faster, abnormal blood vessels grow underneath the retina, which can leak and damage the macula.

In both cases, there’s no cure. And for the more common dry type suffered by millions of Americans, despite Big Pharma’s years of trials – and mostly errors, there’s not even a treatment available.

Obviously in this case, that “ounce of prevention” is worth its weight in gold… or should I say oranges!

And along with adding more of this healthy fruit to your diet, other recognized ways to protect your eyes include:

• Lutein and zeaxanthin, which can be found in green leafy vegetables, especially kale and spinach, along with egg yolks. You can also easily get the benefits of these carotenoids (a group of yellow and orange pigments found in plants) in supplement form.
• Antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, along with zinc. Oranges, of course, are a great source of C, and you can get your daily dose of E from a wide variety of foods such as almonds, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, and avocados. Zinc-rich foods include kidney and lima beans, flax seeds and beef.
• Fish, as research has found that frequent fish eaters (those who consume over two servings a week) were nearly 50 percent less likely to develop age-related macular denegation than those who ate it less frequently. And imagine the benefits if you served up some wild-caught salmon with a sliced orange!

And while a glass of orange juice will contain a lot of fruit sugar, a much better idea is to simply enjoy a fresh orange. That will ensure you’re getting all of the fiber and other nutrients, just the way nature intended.

“Eating oranges linked to lower risk of leading cause of blindness” Kashmira Gander, July 15, 2018, Newsweek, newsweek.com