Five worst foods for eye health

Limiting these foods can help control the amount of toxin buildup in your body

How your diet impacts eye health: Foods to avoid for better vision

Having a healthy diet is essential to maintaining your eye health as you age. While it’s always important to add nutrition to your diet through fruits, vegetables and whole grains, it’s also essential to cut out certain foods which may be compromising your eye health over time.

Here are five foods you should try to limit to preserve your visual acuity and keep your eyes healthy.

1. White bread and pasta

Simple carbohydrates like those found in white bread and pasta are easily digested and absorbed, which can spike blood sugar¹. These rapid spikes put strain on the pancreas, which tries to keep the body’s blood sugar level steady². If the pancreas is chronically stressed, then this can impair its ability to keep blood sugar at steady levels, resulting in chronically elevated blood glucose². In turn, this can result in chronic inflammation and accumulation of toxins, which can harm cells².

For eye health, the accumulation of toxins can damage cells in the eye responsible for maintaining eye health and visual acuity. As such, degeneration of eye cells can lead to a variety of age-related diseases like age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cataracts and diabetic retinopathy².

Therefore, it’s important to limit the amount of simple sugars in your diet from foods like white bread and pasta to help your body maintain blood sugar levels and reduce the amount of toxins that your eye cells are exposed to. Whole grain pastas and bread are great substitutes since they’re digested more slowly and don’t cause the same spikes in blood sugar².

2. Prepackaged foods

Prepackaged foods are loaded with sodium; eating too much processed food can have negative effects that reverberate throughout your body. It’s estimated that in America, as much as 75 per cent of dietary sodium comes from prepackaged and processed foods like soup, tomato sauce and condiments³.

Too much sodium in your diet is associated with high blood pressure, also known as hypertension³. Importantly, hypertension is linked to eye problems like diabetic retinopathy and blood vessel damage that can lead to vision loss¹.

Eating less prepackaged food can reduce your chance of developing eye diseases like AMD or diabetic retinopathy¹; however, if you do eat prepackaged foods, try to look for those with labels marked “low sodium” to help keep your sodium intake in check^3,4.

3. Fried foods

High heat cooking methods used to make fried foods like doughnuts, french fries and eggrolls can increase the production of toxins that can damage the cells in your body and contribute to the development of various health conditions⁵. Further, frying can increase the amount of trans fats in cooking oils, which can cause inflammation⁵.

This inflammation can further increase the accumulation of toxins in your body that can damage and kill cells, including the cells in your eyes^1,5. As a result, eating lots of fried foods tends to be associated with conditions like AMD and diabetic retinopathy¹.

4. Sugary drinks

Drinks like sodas, juice and energy drinks are loaded with sugar¹. Consuming all this sugar puts you at risk for health conditions like Type 2 diabetes and heart problems¹.

Importantly, these health conditions are associated with eye diseases like AMD and diabetic retinopathy, so it’s important to limit your sugar intake by reducing your consumption of sugary drinks¹. Water is the best alternative¹.

5. Processed meats

Certain foods including processed meats are notorious for containing high quantities of sodium which can lead to hypertension, and in turn, eye conditions like AMD and diabetic retinopathy⁴. Some examples of processed meats include bacon, deli meats and hot dogs.

For some brands, just six slices of deli meat can have as much as half of the sodium you should consume in a day⁴. As such, it’s important to eat minimally processed meats to reduce your sodium intake and decrease your risk of hypertension and associated eye health conditions^3,4.

How to protect eye health with your diet

Some foods produce toxins that harm the cells in your eyes and contribute to the development of various eye diseases. Limiting or cutting out these foods—while also eating a variety of fruits and vegetables containing vitamins essential for eye health—can help prevent eye diseases.

Ready to learn more about eye health and preventative care? Visit our website for additional tips and expert advice. Your eyes will thank you!

Disclaimer: Always speak to your primary health care provider and/or eye care provider before making any changes to your lifestyle, activities or diet.

References

1. https://www.webmd.com/eye-health/ss/slideshow-worst-foods-eyes
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7551870/
3. https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/changes-you-can-make-to-manage-high-blood-pressure/shaking-the-salt-habit-to-lower-high-blood-pressure
4. https://newsroom.heart.org/file?fid=50ddc37a29371a28e000004b#:~:text=This%20is%20the%20American%20Heart,poultry%2C%20soup%2C%20and%20sandwiches.
5. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/6-foods-that-cause-inflammation