9 foods that damage your eyesight

We are used to eliminating the effect, not the cause. But many, even serious, illnesses might not develop if people followed a diet, played sports, and tried to avoid stress. The same goes for the eyes. Operations to improve vision, although they have become available and now correct even those previously considered hopeless disorders, it is still much easier and cheaper to monitor health so as not to get on the table to the surgeon.

If you don’t want to wear glasses in old age, you can start by eliminating foods that damage your vision from your diet. Most often, these products do not directly affect the eyes, but the cardiovascular or other systems, leading to the onset of diseases that reduce visual acuity.

Refined flour products

Refined flour contains almost no nutrients and is a carbohydrate bomb for the body. Scientists have found that simple carbohydrates in white bread, pasta, and other flour products made from refined flour increase the risk of age-related yellow spot degeneration. This is progressive damage to the central part of the retina that causes gradual loss of vision, including blindness.

It is worth replacing the flour products with whole grain or first grade. These foods are not only healthier but also easier to digest.

Salty foods

These are products made from processed meat, such as sausages, canned food, and other food. The fact is that a large amount of salt can lead to an increase in blood pressure, which negatively affects the entire body, including the eyes. Chronic high blood pressure can lead to hypertensive retinopathy, where blood vessels in the eyes are damaged, causing blurred vision and even loss of sight.

Also, high pressure can lead to punctate inner choroidopathy, in which fluid accumulates under the retina, or to neuropathy, when blood flow is blocked, which causes nerves to die and vision deteriorates.

According to WHO standards, salt intake should not exceed 5 grams per day. And this applies to all the salt consumed per day, not just the one used to improve the taste of dishes.

Fried fatty foods

Whenever we talk about junk food, such as food that damages the heart, kidneys, or liver, we discuss the importance of avoiding fried foods, especially fatty ones. The reason is that frying food produces carcinogenic substances that cause inflammation. In addition, the trans fats in such foods increase bad cholesterol levels and can lead to various illnesses, such as stroke or type 2 diabetes

In turn, these diseases affect vision, leading to macular degeneration, when the retina of the eye is damaged, diabetic retinopathy, and other conditions that can render a person blind.

Some types of vegetable oils

Research has shown that too much linoleic acid, which is unsaturated fat, increases the risk of age-related macular degeneration, a condition that can reduce visual acuity.

These oils include sunflower, corn, soybean, sesame, and safflower oils. It is especially worth avoiding foods that contain hydrogenated oils and trans fats. It is best to choose oils with no more than 4 grams of unsaturated fat per tablespoon.

Cheap margarine

Not every margarine is bad, and quality products are even better than butter in some ways. At the very least, they are less harmful to the cardiovascular system. But if you eat cheap margarine, you run the risk of hurting your heart and eyes, all because of the trans fats it contains, which raise bad cholesterol levels.

How to identify bad margarine? For example, the softer it is, the less trans fats it contains by its hardness. But this method is not always suitable. Then you can just read the composition and see how many trans fats are in the product.

Foods high in sugar

Do you like sugary soda, chocolate bars, and other drinks and food that you want to wash down immediately with water because everything in your mouth sticks together? This is a sure way to deteriorate vision and even blindness. As with fried fatty foods, high amounts of sugar significantly increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, leading to macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

The daily intake of sugar should not exceed 5% of the total calories consumed, about 50 grams. Moreover, a chocolate bar alone can contain more than 20 grams of sugar.

Fish and seafood

But this is already unexpected because we consider fish and seafood to be very healthy food. The fact is that humanity mercilessly pollutes water bodies, dumping highly toxic organic compounds there, for example, methylmercury. Fish and other marine life accumulate them in their bodies along with other pollution, and then they get to our table. Long-lived fish such as pike or tuna are especially susceptible to pollution.

We are not saying that you need to give up fish, you need to choose wisely, and it is advisable to buy the one that was grown in artificial reservoirs. Eating fish contaminated with mercury can lead to serious health problems, including impaired vision.

Alcohol

The problem is not only with alcohol but also with what is usually consumed. And this is fried fatty food, most often salty, which does not weakly hit all systems, especially the kidneys, liver, and heart.

Vessels wear out faster, especially with alcohol abuse, the risk of cataracts at an earlier age and other vision problems increases. If you add smoking to this, you get an effective blend for blindness quickly.

Coffee and tea

And again, an unexpected point in this article because coffee and tea are often described almost as healing products. This is true, but only in moderate dosage. Overdoing it with caffeine can increase intraocular pressure, which increases the risk of glaucoma or ocular hypertension.

The higher the intraocular pressure, the greater the risk of partial or complete vision loss. Therefore, you should limit your coffee intake to 3 cups a day and choose drinks with lower caffeine content.