What is Lutein?
Lutein, also known as carotene, is a fat-soluble vitamin that can absorb near-blue-violet light and help the retina of the eye resist ultraviolet and blue light. Lutein is an important functional antioxidant for the eyes. The human body supplements a large amount of lutein, which helps to maintain vision persistence, improve visual reaction time, and reduce visual damage. For myopia, supplementing lutein can delay the increase of their myopia, and regular use of lutein can effectively prevent computer radiation from harming the human body. Moreover, lutein has strong antioxidant capacity, can inhibit the activity of oxygen free radicals, prevent oxygen free radicals from destroying normal cells, and protect our eyes.
However, lutein, which is so important to the eyes, cannot be synthesized by the human body itself, so it can only be supplemented by external sources. Because lutein can decompose and filter ultraviolet and blue light in sunlight, avoiding these high-energy rays from damaging the eyes. Therefore, supplementing lutein can help our eyes resist external aggression.
Lutein is an important natural pigment in the retina
Lutein exists in the macular area of the retina, and the retina is directly exposed to various light sources from the outside world. Light is actually a kind of ionizing radiation. Different colors of light have different wavelengths. Among visible light, blue light has the shortest wavelength (approximately in the range of 400-460nm) and the highest energy. We receive natural light sources and various artificial light sources every day, which contain a large amount of high-energy blue light. When high-energy blue light irradiates the retina, a very active oxidation reaction will be generated to generate a large number of oxygen free radicals (ROS), which may even cause photooxidative damage to the retina.
The absorption wavelength of lutein is about 445nm, which is similar to the wavelength of blue light 400nm~460nm. The lutein in the retina is like a "contact sunglasses" blocking the retina, which has a good protective effect on the eyes.
For the human body, lutein cannot be produced by itself, and it needs to be supplemented by vegetables containing lutein or lutein-supplemented nutrients.
What exactly does lutein do to the eyes?
◆ Protect the retina and enhance vision
Lutein is a good antioxidant, which can prevent the retina from oxidative damage when absorbing light, protect the optic nerve and blood vessels, maintain good blood circulation, reduce chromatic aberration, and improve vision.
◆ Filter blue light and delay eye aging
Blue light can penetrate the eyeball and damage the retina and macular area, especially the fat outer layer of the macular area is easily damaged by light, so this area is prone to degeneration, and lutein can form a protective film to filter out blue light and prevent harmful rays from the sun from invading the eyes. Lutein can relieve visual fatigue, dryness, blur, photophobia and other symptoms.
◆ Prevention of fundus lesions in high myopia
High myopia can easily lead to retinal detachment, fluid accumulation and other fundus lesions, and can even lead to permanent blindness. Add enough lutein to improve eye resistance and reduce the incidence of lesions.
◆ Prevention of eye diseases such as glaucoma and cataracts
Lutein can reduce the oxidation intensity of ocular protein, the more sufficient the intake, the lower the incidence of glaucoma; at the same time, lutein is the only carotenoid that exists in the lens of the eye, which can improve the resistance of the lens, delay or prevent the occurrence of cataracts; reduce the macular degeneration and lesion probability and help the elderly with degenerative macular disease to improve vision.
How to supplement lutein?
Lutein is mainly found in some dark green and orange-yellow vegetables and fruits, such as: cabbage, spinach, green cauliflower, pumpkin, mustard greens, corn, kiwi fruit, orange, etc.
Each person needs to take about 6 mg of lutein a day, and the required amount varies according to the length of time the eyes are used, whether the living habits are good, and whether the damage factors are serious.
If you need lutein powder, please contact us email: chriswang@sheerherb.com
