Thursday, February 11, 2016

Sight Defenders: Bilberry and Lutein for Great Eye Care in Boulder

Although neither of them appears with a cape or a mask, both Bilberry and Lutein are major sight defenders. They are not faster than a speeding bullet or able to leap tall buildings with a single bound, but they can quickly restore one’s vision to near normalcy when macular degeneration begins to creep in.

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The Benefits of Lutein

When it comes to eye care Boulder, lutein is a major sight defender. Lutein (pronounced LOO-teen) is a pigment that is one of the over 600 known carotenoids occurring in nature. Lutein is in egg yolks, corn, spinach, broccoli, kale, turnip greens, collards, lettuce, okra, and carrots.

It can also be found in eye tissues such as the retina’s pigment and parts of the lens. Lutein appears to have a role in slowing age-related degeneration of these tissues. Research indicates that there is a direct correlation between lutein ingestion and eye pigmentation. Furthermore, lutein may absorb blue light and cause a 90 percent reduction in blue light intensity.

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Supplementation with lutein helps when:
     Allergies to lutein-rich foods preclude a person’s being able to eat sufficient amounts of it
     Illness, age, or genetic predisposition cause a person’s digestive system to be functioning sub-optimally
     People consume foods grown in poor soil that is pesticide-laden and chemically fertilized, as these foods are nutrient-depleted.

Lutein has become popular as a supplement either alone or in combination with bilberry and zeaxanthin for daily eye support and for the improvement and prevention of visual problems such as macular degeneration. Humans eat about 1 to 3 mg of lutein per day.

Benefits of Bilberry

Bilberry is another antioxidant that is very helpful for eye care. It is known by many names: fraughan, myrtle blueberry, whortleberry, whinberry, blueberry, and winberry. It grows as a shrub in temperate climates and produces a fruit that can be eaten fresh or used in preserves or desserts. There is also a drink that is made from it: bilberry liqueur. In addition to helping with eye care, the leaves from bilberry are also used to treat diabetes, high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, typhoid fever, and kidney stones.

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The anthocyanosides in bilberry have been demonstrated to strengthen blood vessels and the walls of capillaries, improve the flexibility of red blood cells allowing them to better deliver oxygen, and cause a stabilization in collagen tissues such as tendons, cartilage, and ligaments. These anthocyanosides also lower cholesterol. 

Within the eyes, the anthocyanosides in bilberry increase pigments of the retina, which allows light to be more tolerable to the eye. It is thought that the ability of bilberry to improve eyesight and night vision is due to the fact that there is a high concentration of capillaries in the eye that can receive more oxygen and other nutrients thanks to the increased flexibility of the red blood cells and the vasodilating (opening) effect of bilberry on the capillaries.

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Bilberry, Lutein and Zeaxanthin: the Triple Threat for Eye Care in Boulder

Bilberry and lutein together make the perfect caped defenders of one’s eyesight. They work even better when they are joined by zeaxanthin. This threesome is a great additive to a regimen of eye care in Boulder.







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