A lot has been said since our childhood that eating carrots will improve your vision or help to maintain healthy eyes. However, many equally wonder if there is any grain of truth in this fact or has it always been a clever ploy of parents to feed veggies to their vegetable-adverse children. A valid argument exists for both premises that carrots are beneficial to eyesight and that they do not make any significant contribution towards vision improvement. Eye specialists of considerable repute like Sugarland Eye & Laser Center in Houston strongly recommend a healthy and balanced diet for good eyesight, but a carrot rich diet along will not be enough.
Carrots maintain health vision, but do nothing to improve it
If you are suffering from less than perfect vision, then no amount of carrot eating can retain lost visual acuity. For instance, a blind man will not be able to get 20/20 vision by eating carrots all day. The presence of Vitamin A that is an essential nutrient required for good vision has been proven necessary for overall eye health.
The relation between carrots and eye health
The beta-carotene component present in carrots creates Vitamin A, which helps in maintaining eyesight. While too much Vitamin A will not give you perfect vision, lack of it can attribute towards blindness. Many other vision related conditions exist that can be a direct cause of lack of Vitamin A. It is also helpful in making our vision more susceptible to low light areas and improving night vision. If you condition has nothing to do with the absence or shortage of Vitamin A in the body, then carrots may not be as helpful as they have been publicized to be.
Carrots also contain lutein, which is an antioxidant that helps protect the retina from macular degeneration. This component increases the density of pigment in the oval-shaped, yellow area surrounding the retina, also known as the macula.
Sources rich in Vitamin A
While carrots have certainly been advertised as being the foods for eye care and improvement, many other vegetables and fruits prove just as beneficial for the essential intake of Vitamin A. Orange colored fruits such as mangoes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, apricots and cantaloupes serve as a rich source of beta-carotene. It is also sufficiently available through dairy products like milk, cheese, etc.
Another scientific argument proves that beta-carotene does not convert to Vitamin A as productively as it is believed to be. The reason is that most individuals are recommended to take Vitamin A supplements rather than relying on diet alone.
How much is too much
Excessive consumption of carrots can prevent the body from forming Vitamin A, which is a natural defense mechanism of our body to fight against its spiked levels.
It is recommended to follow a balanced diet for vision improvement and maintaining overall eye health. However, for acute eyesight conditions, LASIK or laser eye surgery can provide a permanent solution.
Sources:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-carrots-improve-your-vision/
http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/eye/carrots-eyesight1.htm
http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/fact-fiction-myths-about-eyes#0
http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/eye/carrots-eyesight.htm
Sugarland Eye & Laser Center leads in providing premium LASIK technologies to Houston, Sugar Land, and the surrounding region. The Center’s award-winning medical director introduced revolutionary technologies such as iLASIK to the region. This technology is used by NASA astronauts, Navy SEALS and Air Force fighter pilots. At Sugarland Eye & Laser Center, you can now receive the same treatment. For more information, please call (281) 240-0478 or visit us at www.houston-lasik.com.
About the Author
Amjad Khokhar, M.D. is Chief LASIK Surgeon at Sugarland Eye & Laser Center. Add Dr. Khokhar on Google+ here.
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