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The eyes are not just the mirrors of our souls – they also reflect many of our diseases. Because they are the only place in the body where you can easily see blood vessels and even part of the brain via the optic nerve, they can be used to detect a number of diseases.

A large study of 120,000 people by the insurance company, VSP Vision Care, found that 34% of diabetes patients first found out about their disease from an eye exam. High blood pressure
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Vitamin D is responsible for overall immune system health as well as vastly reducing the risk of numerous chronic diseases and cancers. The best way to receive vitamin D3 is through the sun, but it is essential to achieve a fine balance between healthy exposure and overexposure.

UVB rays from the sun present an unusual contradiction. They are the wavelength that can quickly cause sunburn on the surface of the skin, but they are also essential to vitamin D production. The body requires sun exposure to convert a cholesterol derivative into vitamin D3.

In order to gain safe and adequate exposure to UVB, a
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Do you have high blood pressure or hypertension? If so, take a look at these foods you should avoid due to their high sodium content. The upper limit of sodium per day is 2300 mg (1 teaspoon). Too much sodium does direct damage to the heart and arteries and raises blood pressure significantly.

Here are common foods that quickly add up sodium in your diet:
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Vitamins taken as a dietary supplement are a common and powerful form of prevention in fighting countless eye diseases and maintaining overall eye health. But if you have special dietary needs or must avoid certain allergens, finding the right supplements can be a challenge. At Natural Eye Care, we carry supplements in a wide variety to suit these special needs, making it easy for you to find what you need to achieve optimal eye health.

Many supplements are also made with the sensitivity of certain allergens in mind. Groups of these allergen-free supplements include:

• Gluten-free & Wheat-free

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Watermelon is a great summer fruit, but it also has some powerful health benefits that you may not know about. The key nutrient in this tasty melon is lycopene, a carotenoid found in red fruits and vegetables, which is essential for eye health. Research has shown that a deficiency in lycopene is associated with macular degeneration. As such, it is important to maintain a diet rich in lycopene and other nutrients essential to preventing disease.

You’ve probably seen lycopene touted on bottles of tomato ketchup. It’s true that tomatoes are one source of lycopene, but ketchup
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In the case of choroidal neovascularization (CNV, also known as “wet” macular degeneration), new blood vessels are the cause of the problem. Yet normally when new blood vessels are created in the body, it is a good sign. For example, it is part of the way the body heals wounds. But with CNV, the blood vessels pose a problem because they originate in the choroid layer of the eye and pass through a weak part of the Bruch’s membrane, the innermost layer of choroid, then pass into the subretinal pigment epithelium (sub-RPE) or subretinal space. These blood vessels aren’t supposed to exist in this part of the eye, are weak and tend to leak, potentially substantially impairing vision.

Oxygen and nutrients are provided to the eye by the choroid. The choroid
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Excessive time spent in front of a computer, smartphone, or tablet screen can increase risk of macular degeneration, especially in young people.

The AOA’s survey focused on how much time parents thought their children spent on handheld devices. Their responses easily underestimated those of the children, aged 10 to 17, who reported (83%) that they use a handheld device for at least three hours a day, with 32 percent looking at a screen for more than an hour without glancing
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Research suggests that individuals with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) may benefit from a dietary iodine supplement. RP patients often experience retinal swelling as a result of Cystoid Macular Edema (CME). A study published in JAMA Ophthalmology showed swelling due to CME to be inversely related to iodine intake.

The study was conducted by researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, and Boston University School of Medicine. Using a
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Research on turmeric spice indicates its potential to fight depression, cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative disease. The bright yellow spice, which lends color and flavor to mustard, curry, and other foods, also contains highly beneficial chemicals like curcumin.

Curcumin has been studied widely in the past, but it only makes up about two to five percent of the turmeric spice. Researchers from the Cytokine Research Laboratory
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