Discover valuable insights for maintaining healthy eyes and overall wellness in this episode of the EyeClarity podcast with Dr. Sam. Explore the significance of lutein, a powerful carotenoid that offers protection against blue light and ultraviolet rays, reducing the risk of macular degeneration and related conditions. Learn about essential foods rich in lutein, such as green leafy vegetables, eggs, avocados, and colorful fruits. Dr. Sam also emphasizes the importance of fat optimization for absorbing these nutrients efficiently. Tune in for expert advice on optimizing eye health through nutrition and supplementation. Enjoy the show!

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Hello, everyone. It’s Dr. Sam. I’d like to welcome you to my EyeClarity podcast. This is a show that offers cutting-edge information on how to improve your vision and overall wellness through holistic methods. I so appreciate you spending part of your day with me. If you have questions, you can send them to hello@drsamberne.com.

Now to the latest EyeClarity episode.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to the program. So today I’m going to talk about two essential nutrients not only for your eye health, but your overall wellness. So my first one is kind of famous. It was discovered and developed and talked about way back in 2001 during the Arid Study. That’s the age-related macular degeneration study, and it was also repeated in 2006.

And in this particular study, the National Eye Institute decided it wanted to know what ingredients could help reduce the risk of macular degeneration. And the number one nutrient that I want to talk about today is lutein. L-U-T-E-I-N. So lutein is a carotenoid. This means that it has a pigment attached to it that has a high level of phytochemicals and antioxidants that are great for your retina and macula, specifically the macula. Highest levels of lutein in the eye are in the macula area and the lens of the eye. In fact, lutein can be used as a biomarker to determine what’s the state of your eye health.

Now, one of the characteristics of lutein is that it actually is like a yellow pigment. And when we see it on the macula, it’s actually like a protection against the damaging blue light that’s emitted from all our screens. It also helps protect if you have an overexposure of ultraviolet light. So lutein is a built-in pigment that is very protective, especially against. Things like macular degeneration, macular pucker, macular holes, macular edema. And so lutein is that number one ingredient that I always recommend. If you are either wanting to be proactive in your eye health or let’s say you’ve been diagnosed with one of these macular conditions lutein should be something you want to keep your eye on.

So before I get to the supplementation aspect of lutein, I want to give you ten foods that you can check off your list to make sure if you’re wanting to get more lutein in your diet, include these. So number one is green leafy vegetables. Number two are the cruciferous vegetables, specifically broccoli, but I would include all the cruciferous vegetables. Number three would be eggs, specifically the egg yolk. This has a lot of lutein in it. Obviously, you want to get the cage-free organic eggs, but eggs are a great food source for lutein and your overall eye health.

Alright, next are avocados. I talk about avocados all the time. Again, if you think about that yellow pigment when you cut into an avocado, that yellow fat is made up of a lot of lutein, and it’s really great for your retina. And macula. The red, yellow, and orange peppers are really great. Have a lot of lutein in them. Also raspberries. So we get to the colorful fruits, the berry family raspberries, strawberries, blueberries. These are great for retina macula circulation. They have a lot of antioxidants in it, and those raspberries especially contain the lutein that we’re looking for.

The last two sources of lutein I want to talk about are cherries and the spice paprika.

Okay, now let’s move to its cousin, lutein’s cousin, and that is zeaxanthin. This is another plant carotenoid. It goes hand in hand with lutein, and in fact, they work together synergistically. And if you stay tuned to the end, I’ll talk about the milligrams that you should be taking. But let’s move to some of the foods that contain zeaxanthin. So when you think zeaxanthin, think colorful vegetables. The red, orange, yellow peppers are great source, and you don’t need as much zeaxanthin, but it’s a very important plant pigment that also contributes to Macular health. Retina Health and Lens Health talk Milligrams.

I recommend 16 to 20 milligrams a day of lutein and four to six milligrams a day of zeaxanthin. So the combination of eating a lot of these colorful vegetables and colorful fruits, and then you can always supplement, you’re going to get enough lutein and zeaxanthin in your diet that will help be Neuroprotectors for the macula and the retina.

Alright, the last thing I want to say before we end our show today is something called fat optimization. This means that the fat-soluble foods or vitamins that you may be taking and lutein and zeaxanthin are fat-soluble. Vitamin A is also fat-soluble, is eat some fat while you’re eating these vegetables. So very easy. Avocados work very well. Eggs work very well. But if you’re having either a liver and or gallbladder challenge, so we think about the liver produces the bile, and the gallbladder stores the bile. Bile is the key that helps us in the fat solubility of these very important nutrients. In fact, I’ve had people where they weren’t absorbing lutein, zeaxanthin, and vitamin A. So they had night vision issues, dry eye, and they were developing macular degeneration. And I had them use some bile salts or my gallbladder formula, which will do the job. And by either adding more fat to the diet or taking this particular specific supplement, guess what happens? The vitamin A absorbs better, the lutein and the zeaxanthin absorb better, and your eyes get better. So remember that fat optimization part of this. You can eat all the great vegetables and fruits that contain lutein, zeaxanthin, but if you’re not absorbing it, this may be one of the reasons why. So doing some kind of a gallbladder enzymatic formula like mine, or making sure you’re taking bile salts or eating some fat with your colorful fruits and vegetables, this would be a way that you’re making sure you’re absorbing your fats as well as you could and these fat-soluble vitamins.

Alright, well, that’s our show for today. I want to thank you so much for tuning in. Until next time, take care. Thank you for listening. Hope you learned something from the EyeClarity podcast show today. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to. Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify and leave a review. See you here next time.