Vitamin therapy – important for our eyes

My fellow readers, in order to avoid multiple diseases and to keep healthy, it is of vital importance to have an adequate diet and to exercise regularly. Today we will dedicate our column to the importance of incorporating certain necessary vitamins into our alimentation on a regular basis.

The discovery of vitamins started in ancient Greece when Hippocrates (the father of medicine) stated that the ingestion of liver could improve night vision in persons, a finding which has since then been proven as great concentrations of vitamin A, essential for our vision’s development, are found in the liver. {{more}}

In 1957 an Englishman called James Lind discovered that the cure for scurvy (bleeding gum disease) was the addition to our diet of citric fruits and fresh vegetables which are rich in vitamin C.

There are many prestigious investigations where explanations and treatments for diseases that have been responsible for many deaths are caused by lack of vitamin rich diet. Vitamins are complex substances that are necessary for growth and the normal maintenance of life. They should be brought into our organisms daily through our diet as our bodies are not capable of producing them in sufficient quantities. Their deficits can lead to metabolic disorders, for example, the deficit of vitamins A, D and K can produce night blindness, raquitism (bone weakness) and hemorrhages respectively. Recent studies have shown the importance of vitamins such as A, C and E for human vision, in preventing the occurrence of multiple ocular diseases and deterring the formation and progress of cataracts and macular degenerative disease related to age.

Some examples of the source of various vitamins are: vitamin A (maintains healthy skin and vision, important for bone growth) found in liver, fish, egg-yolk, milk; vitamin D (regulates calcium that is needed for bones, its deficit causes raquitism in children and osteoporosis in adults) found in liver, cod-liver oil, egg-yolk, fish and milk; vitamin E (protects against cancer, cardiac diseases, and aging processes such as cataracts and macular degenerative disease) found in vegetable oils such as olive, soy, sunflower, dried fruits and cereals; vitamin K (intervenes in blood clotting) found in vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, cabbage and tomatoes; vitamin B complex (vital for the nervous system, skin, blood and gastro-intestinal system) found in meats, cereals, organs, fish, egg, cheese and vegetables.

If we wish to stay healthy and to reach our golden years free of diseases then I believe that it is not too late to modify our diet and to integrate more vitamins into it; don’t you?