Thursday, January 23, 2014

New way to protect your eyes and slow aging….

Today's Post:  Thursday, 1-23-2014

One of the ways you can become impaired and less functional as you get older is to see less well or not see at all.

Cataracts and other eye problems in middle aged and older people do just that.

But if you can make them dramatically less likely or happen decades later, that could help give you an extra 10 or 20 years of a life healthy enough to enjoy.

It turns out you can!  And a new discovery almost doubles the power of those methods.

We already know a large number of ways that help prevent these problems.  (I list many of them in the second half of this post.)

But thanks to the research of Al Sears, MD, we now know there is an unusually valuable way to prevent these problems.  AND in addition to the eye protection it gives you it slows DNA damage which tends to prevent cancers and slow aging besides!

Astaxanthin is a supplement that had very good press as an antioxidant but I never thought to try it because I take about 6 others and eat more foods than that high in antioxidants. 

But that changed recently because of the first email I got from Al Sears.

When I was at the doctor several months ago to check why it felt like something that should have been washed out by tears was still in my eye (It wasn’t), in his exam he found what he called “baby cataracts”.

Besides my healthy lifestyle, not smoking, and not taking statins, and almost always wearing a hat I immediately bought UV blocking sunglasses to wear in super bright sunlight since this helps prevent cataracts and I’d not been doing it.

Then in an email almost 3 weeks ago Al Sears said that taking Astaxanthin strongly protected you from cataracts!

NICE!  So I started taking two 3 mg capsules a day of astaxanthin as that’s thought to be the effective amount.

Then I got this!

“Studies show astaxanthin increases antioxidant protection throughout the eye.1

It also helps relieve dry eyes and blurring. Astaxanthin even helps with double vision. In fact, people who take astaxanthin report being able to see clearer and sharper.

Also, astaxanthin increases blood flow to all parts of your eyes.2

So at the same time it’s destroying free radicals, astaxanthin helps you maintain the flow of nutrients and oxygen to your inner eye, keeping your vision sharp and clear.

Astaxanthin, possibly the world’s strongest antioxidant, has the power to cross the blood brain barrier. That means it can and soothe and protect the deepest parts of your eye, including the central retina.3,4

Astaxanthin also keeps the outer layers of your eye, which are exposed to the elements, healthy as well. The Laboratory of Ocular Cell Biology and Visual Science at Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan proved this. Animals’ eyes given astaxanthin maintained healthy normal function5 even when exposed to a harsh light source.  This light had the same effect as prolonged sunlight, or even working at a computer all day.”

Wow!  It seems that astaxanthin is so protective because it is able to go everywhere in your eyes and protect them.

It also such a strong antioxidant that he said separately that it reduces DNA damage

You may well have already eaten astaxanthin because it’s the compound that makes wild caught salmon pink.

So it turns out close to the 3 best eye protective actions are to wear UV blocking sunglasses in very bright sunlight, take astaxanthin, and completely avoid tobacco smoke.

(It also helps to NOT ever take statins because they do tend to cause cataracts in some people and are NOT a very heart protective drug for most of the people who now take them.)

Are there other ways to protect your eyes that work?

Yes indeed there are.

1.  Bilberries, a kind of Scandavian blueberry, are protective and even restorative to your eyes and vision. 

(I take two of the bilberry supplements because of its other health benefits.)  This was discovered when English pilots in the RAF in World War II found that when they ate bilberries their night vision improved.  Some people with vision problems have restored their vision or improved it by taking bilberry supplements.

2.  It’s also true that eating carrots and other dark green, yellow, or orange vegetables --- vegetables high in carotenes, they have hundreds of kinds!, protects your eyes.  Zeaxanthin and lutein are two of these that are also very strongly protective to your eyes that are in these vegetables.  Broccoli, carrots, and kale are all high in them.

3.  Taking resveratrol along with things like bilberry extract, grape seed extract, etc like astaxanthin slows aging and is quite protective and restorative to your eyes and vision.  Some people with vision problems have restored their vision or improved it by taking resveratrol along with these related compounds.

4.  The ubiquinol form of CoQ10 that your body directly uses keep the mitochondria, the energy generating parts of your cells healthy, including the cells in your eyes and optic nerves. Some people with vision problems have restored their vision or improved it by taking ubiquinol.

5.  All parts of your eyes depend on good blood circulation so all the methods to keep your blood vessels healthy that work protect your eyesight.  Not ever eating hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup or drinking soft drinks and hardly any grains and eating heart protective foods instead protects your eyes too.

6.  Regular vigorous exercise most days of every week also protects your blood vessels.

In addition to that it releases the nerve growing and restoring hormone BDNF.  So doing it helps protect your optic nerves and the part of your brain that processes vision!

7.  Also eating wild caught fish high in omega 3 oils or taking the supplement DHA also helps your body release BDNF!  So doing that AND regular vigorous exercise most days of every week also helps protect your optic nerves and the part of your brain that processes vision!   

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