Beets are a root vegetable that boast rich nutrients such as iron,B vitamins, manganese, potassium, and copper.
This super food may also have a few super benefits for your eye health. The rich dark red color of beets contains powerful antioxidants such as flavonoids and beta-carotene.
Beets are also known to help stabilize blood pressure, which can help prevent major eye problems, such as glaucoma.
This root is also exceptionally high in vitamins A & C, which is said to help protect the eyes against developing or progressing AMD (Age-Related Macular Degeneration).
Consuming beets may increase and improve our ability to take in more oxygen, which increases stamina and energy.
To reap these healthy benefits, try adding beets into your daily diet. Beets make a great addition to a salad, soup or other food items. You may also find beet juice at stores already prepared.
An Australian research shows that beetroot may help boost eye health.
The study found that eating vegetable nitrates, which are found mainly in beetroot, could help reduce your risk of developing early stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness.
Researchers at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research in Sydney interviewed more than 2,000 Australian adults aged over 49 and followed them over 15 years as part of the Blue Mountains Eye Study. Those who ate between 100 to 142 milligrams of vegetable nitrates each day had a 35 per cent lower risk of developing early AMD than people who ate less than 69mg of vegetable nitrates each day.
Beetroot has nearly 15mg of nitrate per 100g.
It is possible to reduce the risk of losing sight from macular degeneration by adopting a healthy lifestyle and regularly having your eyes tested and macula checked by an eye health professional.
This post originally appeared on VIT Eyes.