Eat these foods to improve your eyesight and prevent macular degeneration

The scientists claim that including nitrate-rich foods in your diet can help to prevent macular degeneration. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of severe, irreversible vision loss in people over age 60. It occurs when the small central portion of the retina, known as the macula, deteriorates.

We knew that foods enriched with nitrates can do you a great deal of good, they help to dilate blood vessels, improve blood circulation, protect your heart, improve metabolism and in men these foods can also help to fight an embarrassing problem like erectile dysfunction. However, recently Australian scientists claimed that foods rich in nitrates can do this and much more for us. Their study helped them come to a conclusion that to improve vision people need to eat foods that are enriched with nitrates.

The scientists claim that including nitrate-rich foods in your diet can help to prevent macular degeneration. Macular degeneration is the leading cause of severe, irreversible vision loss in people over age 60. It occurs when the small central portion of the retina, known as the macula, deteriorates. The retina is the light-sensing nerve tissue at the back of the eye. Since the loss is irreversible it is only apt that the right kind of preventive measures is taken to stop it in its tracks.

More than two thousand people (from forty-nine years of age and older) took part in the experiment and for fifteen years had one hundred ten to one hundred and forty-two milligrams of nitrates through food sources. It acted as a prevention of diseases associated with vision and reduced the risk of problems with a yellow spot at thirty per cent.

Macular degeneration is a condition that affects people after they hit 60s conditions that can aggravate it are smoking, excess weight and other factors. Unfortunately, modern medicine hasn't yet invented a means of helping to cure this disease. So you need to start working on preventing it now. One way of doing it is by eating foods rich in nitrates. Here are a few foods that you can include in your diet:

Beetroots: The nitrates present in the vegetable are converted into nitrite in the mouth by the bacteria present in the oral cavity. When the vegetable is chewed and swallowed the bacteria in the stomach converts it into nitric oxide, a gas that helps blood vessels to dilate and boost circulation. Beets have anywhere from 110 to 177 mg nitrates/100g. The vegetable, its roots and leaves all are rich in nitrates.

Spinach: This leafy green vegetable tops the list of healthy foods. In fact, it contains well over 250mg of nitrates per 100g according to data published in Sports Medicine. Include spinach in your daily diet now to be able to read your morning newspaper without being dependent on a pair of glasses.

Carrots: We were always told that carrots are good for our eyes. In fact, they have around 90 to 195mg of nitrates per 100g, according to research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Lettuce: If you are regularly including lettuce in your salads you are doing your eyes a great deal of good. Oakleaf lettuce has 155mg/100g and butter leaf yields 200mg/100g, as per research published in the European Food Safety Authority Journal.

Celery: Apart from having amazing health benefits they are also high in nitrates having more than 250mg per 100g, according to published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.