Eye Vitamins

More About Lutein

Lutein is an antioxidant carotenoid a pigmented nutrient that is responsible for the yellow colors of fruits and vegetables and is present in the highest quantities in dark, leafy green vegetables. You're born with a certain amount of lutein in your eye, but your body doesn't reproduce it.

Why is lutein important?

The macula is the region of the retina responsible for central vision. It's also the area that is most sensitive to blue light the part of the visible light spectrum that, along with ultraviolet light, can damage your eyes. Lutein is a powerful antioxidant that protects against this damage by filtering blue light before it can damage the macula. If sunglasses are the first line of defense against blue light, lutein is the last.

How much lutein do I need?

Without adequate consumption, the amount of lutein in the eye may deplete with age. Leading doctors recommend you get at least 6 mg of lutein per day to maintain proper eye health. Since your body doesn't make lutein, you must constantly replace it through the foods you eat. Dark, leafy green vegetables like spinach or kale are especially good sources. But you'd have to eat over 2 bowls of raw spinach every day to get the recommended daily dose of 6 mg of lutein. Taking a multivitamin may help, but many multivitamins contain only a fraction of the recommended 6 mg of lutein. In fact, the leading multivitamin contains just .25 mg of lutein a mere 4% of the recommended amount. When using a multivitamin to add lutein to your diet, use a multivitamin that contains the recommended daily dose of 6 mg of lutein, such as Bausch & Lomb Ocuvite Lutein.

For more information about vitamins and minerals and AMD, ask your eye-care professional. He or she may recommend eye vitamins to help keep your eyes healthy. And, of course, be sure to see your eye-care professional at least once a year.

A great source of lutein

Bausch & Lomb PreserVision® Lutein contains 5 mg of FloraGlo® lutein per soft gel, which gives you 10 mg of lutein per day. Recent studies have shown this amount to have potential benefits for AMD sufferers.