Vitamin C and bioflavonoids are very important antioxidants that assist keep your eyes and body healthy. Foods high in vitamin C, such as citrus fruits and lots of vegetables, are likewise outstanding sources of bioflavonoids.
Research suggests vitamin C and bioflavonoids have a complementary result, making them both more efficient when consumed together rather than independently.
Is Vitamin C Good for Eyes?
Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid) is a water-soluble vitamin and an effective anti-oxidant. Plentiful in vegetables and fruits, vitamin C assists the body kind and maintain connective tissue, including collagen found in the cornea of the eye.
Vitamin C likewise promotes healthy bones, skin and capillary, including the fragile capillaries in the retina. Studies suggest long-term usage of vitamin C also might minimize the risk of forming a cataract and vision loss from macular degeneration.
Unlike the majority of animals, humans are unable to produce vitamin C in the body. So we need to get our day-to-day dose of ascorbic acid from our diet. A diet lacking in vitamin C can result in scurvy– a major disease characterized by muscle weakness, swollen and bleeding gums, loss of teeth, bleeding under the skin, discomfort and tightness of the joints, anemia, tiredness and depression.
So how much vitamin C do you require? Inning accordance with the National Institutes of Health, the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of vitamin C is 90 milligrams (mg) each day for men and 75 mg for women. (Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding needs to take up to 120 mg per day.) Research suggests smokers require more vitamin C than nonsmokers.
Numerous scientists, nevertheless, feel you need to take in significantly more vitamin C than the RDA. For instance, 500 mg was the everyday dosage of vitamin C used in research studies that showed a decreased risk of cataracts. And long-lasting studies have actually found that people who take more than 700 mg of additional vitamin C daily have a 25 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease than those who don’t take vitamin C supplements.
Since it is water-soluble, vitamin C is normally thought about safe at high doses. Excess vitamin C is excreted in urine. Nevertheless, dosages greater than 2,000 mg daily may cause nausea and diarrhea, as well as boost the risk of kidney stones.
Exceptional natural sources of vitamin C consist of peppers, citrus fruits, berries, tropical fruits, potatoes, tomatoes and green leafy vegetables. Foods with the greatest content of vitamin C are:
- Sweet red peppers (283 mg per one cup serving).
- Sweet green peppers (133 mg per one cup serving).
- Strawberries (86 mg per one cup serving).
- Broccoli (82 mg per one cup serving).
- Orange juice (75 mg per one cup serving).
The above worths are for fresh, raw foods. Cooking and canning foods can decrease their vitamin C content. Light also damages vitamin C. So if you drink orange juice, it’s best to buy it in opaque containers.
Cigarette smoking, oral contraceptives, estrogen, the antibiotic tetracycline and barbiturates may reduce the efficiency of vitamin C.
Bioflavonoids: Vitamin C’s Eye Health Partner
Bioflavonoids are a large family of substances found in the majority of the same foods that ready sources of vitamin C. In truth, researchers have recognized more than 8,000 naturally taking place bioflavonoid structures. Bioflavonoids (also called flavonoids) are the natural pigments that provide vegetables and fruits their color.
Sometimes bioflavonoids are described as “vitamin P,” but it has actually not been proven that these substance fulfill the requirements to be called a vitamin. Vitamins are organic compounds that are essential for normal growth and nutrition and are needed in the diet due to the fact that they can not be synthesized by the body. It has actually not been shown that bioflavonoids are essential to human health.
Studies of particular bioflavonoids, nevertheless, have revealed health benefits. Quercetin, for instance, appears to support the membranes of cells that release histamine, a compound associated with allergic and inflammatory reactions. Discovered in buckwheat and citrus fruits, quercetin might assist avoid seasonal allergic reactions.
Rutin, another bioflavonoid, might be useful for the avoidance of easy bruising and other bleeding abnormalities. Rutin is discovered in buckwheat, capers and other plants.
And current research suggests apigenin – a bioflavonoid found in celery, parsley, tomato sauce and other plant-based foods – might minimize the risk of ovarian cancer.
Bioflavonoids and vitamin C appear to collaborate in the body. Researchers think advantages credited exclusively to vitamin C in the past in fact may be because of the combined action of vitamin C and specific bioflavonoids. Some of these combined results include:
- Minimized risk of heart disease.
- Reduced risk of particular cancers.
- Specific anti-aging results.
- Security against infections.
- Enhanced walls of capillary.
- Enhanced blood flow.
- Reduced blood cholesterol.
- Improved liver function.
In fact: any food containing vitamin C also contains bioflavonoids.
Bilberry, a plant carefully related to the blueberry, is the source of bioflavonoids often promoted as benefiting your eyes. Bilberries are also called huckleberries or whortleberries in some regions.
Bilberries and blueberries both include high amounts of anthocyanins – flavonoid pigments that are effective anti-oxidants. Anthocyanins may help in reducing the risk of cataracts and macular degeneration and assistance keep the health of the cornea and capillary in various parts of the eye.
Researchers also are examining other potential eye advantages of anthocyanins, consisting of the possibility these and other bioflavonoids might help in reducing inflammatory eye disease and diabetic retinopathy.
In addition to bilberries and blueberries, other good sources of anthocyanins consist of acai fruit, cherries, plums, cranberries, raspberries, eggplant, red and purple grapes.
Like vitamin C, bioflavonoids are water-soluble and nontoxic, even at high doses. No RDA has actually been established for bioflavonoids at this time.