Visual range or distance vision is a crucial factor that determines performance for top athletes in most sports. Eating the right way can help improve vision.
Nutrition is an essential part of any elite athlete’s training program. Recently, experts from the University of Georgia (UGA) published research results confirming that supplementing athletes’ diets with colorful fruits and vegetables can enhance visual range.
The study, published in the journal Exercise and Sport Science Reviews, examined how a group of plant compounds accumulates in the retina, known as macular pigments. These compounds function to improve eye health and enhance vision.
A diet with colorful fruits and vegetables can improve visual range.
Previous studies conducted by researchers Billy R. Hammond and Lisa Renzi-Hammond at UGA indicated that consuming foods like dark leafy greens or yellow and orange fruits, which are high in the plant compounds lutein and zeaxanthin, helps improve eye and brain health.
Lead author Jack Harth from the UGA College of Public Health stated: “Many studies on lutein and zeaxanthin often focus solely on health benefits, but these plant pigments enhance many aspects of visual ability and perception. In this study, we discuss their potential to improve distance vision.”
Visual range, or the distance at which a person can clearly see a target, is a vital factor for elite athletes in nearly every sport. The reason why objects become harder to see and appear blurrier when they are far away is partly due to the effects of blue light.
Harth mentioned: “From the observer’s perspective, if that ball is flying in the air, it gets blended into the bright blue sky or a gray background on a cloudy day. Either way, the target is obscured by the atmosphere in the light-transmitting environment.”
Harth noted that many athletes have taken measures to reduce the effects of blue light through sunglasses that block black or blue light, but consuming more foods rich in lutein and zeaxanthin can enhance the eyes’ ability to process natural blue light.
When a person absorbs lutein and zeaxanthin, these compounds gather as yellow pigments in the retina and act as a filter to prevent blue light from entering the eyes.
Previous work has been conducted to examine pilots’ vision in the 1980s. Recently, Billy R. Hammond and Lisa Renzi-Hammond have conducted further studies on how macular pigment density (or the amount of yellow pigment accumulated in the retina) relates to eye health and examines visual functions.
Billy R. Hammond, a professor of psychology in the Behavioral and Brain Sciences Program at UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, stated: “In a series of long studies, we have shown that increasing the amount of lutein and zeaxanthin in the retina and brain will reduce glare and discomfort in the eyes, while improving color contrast and visual reaction time. Additionally, supplementing these compounds facilitates functions in the brain such as problem-solving and memory. All these tasks are particularly important for athletes.”
In this study, Harth mentioned updating research on the connections between macular pigment and visual function to optimize athletic performance.
Harth said: “We could say we are at a point where we have found differences in visual range in pilots that match the differences found in theoretical simulations, and we have also seen this in the laboratory. Our goal for the future is to truly take all this into the outdoor environment and measure their ability to see contrast over long distances under the effects of blue light.”
But before you rush to eat kale in hopes of improving your vision, experts warn that each person’s body is different. This could mean that the way our bodies absorb and utilize lutein and zeaxanthin varies, and it may take some time before you notice any improvements.
However, the evidence of the overall health benefits of consuming more lutein and zeaxanthin is sufficient reason to add more color to each of our diets. Harth stated: “We have data from experimental studies and theoretical simulations showing that higher macular pigment in your retina will improve your distance vision. Athletes are a clear testament to this.”
