Guest guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Idol wrote: > Looking up into the sky to catch a fly ball or to hit a > tennis serve, for example, have always been extremely problematic on > sunny days, and on bright days I tend to have trouble tracking a > tennis ball as it passes quickly through patches of bright sun and > dark shade. So what color are your eyes? People with light eyes (and the lighter, the more sensitive) are more sensitive to light than those with dark. Dh has very light blue eyes and he says that when he doesn't wear sunglasses, his eyes " slam shut " in sunlight. I have brown eyes and sunlight doesn't bother me at all. YMMV. --s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Suzanne- > So what color are your eyes? People with light eyes (and the lighter, > the more sensitive) are more sensitive to light than those with dark. > Dh has very light blue eyes and he says that when he doesn't wear > sunglasses, his eyes " slam shut " in sunlight. I have brown eyes and > sunlight doesn't bother me at all. Hazel. This is a reasonable approximation of my eyes, though in mine, the inner brown section is thinner and lighter, and as well as being larger, the outer green area is somewhat paler and less saturated. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Eyes_chris.jpg > So perhaps that accounts for it, as my irises are light enough that they transmit more light and thus make me more susceptible to bright light and glare. Since sunglasses aren't helpful for tennis, though, I'm hoping for some kind of nutritional approach to dealing with the problem. Having found a place to play tennis for free, I certainly don't want to give up on regular exercise that I really, really, really enjoy, but the courts are right next to the Hudson River, which dramatically compounds the glare problem because sunlight bounces right off it into my eyes for much of the day. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Hi , > There's a fair amount of literature on nutrient deficiencies relating > to night blindness and how vitamin A, lutein, zeaxanthin, and so on, > can help. What about problems handling significant brightness and > glare, though? I think I have very good night vision (as one might > expect considering my diet) but I've always had a problem with > brightness. Looking up into the sky to catch a fly ball or to hit a > tennis serve, for example, have always been extremely problematic on > sunny days, and on bright days I tend to have trouble tracking a > tennis ball as it passes quickly through patches of bright sun and > dark shade. Of course other people tend to have some difficulty with > these problems too, but not nearly as much as I do. I one of my classes, we talked about a study showing that lutein reduced glare sensitivity. I'm not quite sure why lutein and zeaxanthin would help with night blindness, although I suppose they probably protect the vitamin A from oxidation, especially light-induced. I forget what color your eyes are. Mine are an unusually light blue, like a turquoise. I'm very sensitive to the negative effects of blue-heavy fluorescent lights, and I find even the sun sometimes seems to have too much blue and not enough red light for me, but it is much better than the fluorescents. I see traces from the sun. If, for example, I am playing hackey sack on a sunny day, and I have to kind of spin when I kick, I will see a giant strip of light corresponding to where the sunlight crossed my vision, that will take probably at least a minute to fade away. I bet this also makes me need more vitamin A, because vitamin A is VERY sensitive to light -- in labs it has to be dealt with under red light -- so I bet people with light eyes suffer much more oxidative destruction of it in the eye, which has the highest concentration of vitamin A in the body. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Chris- > I one of my classes, we talked about a study showing that lutein > reduced glare sensitivity. Was that a cataract study, though? I'd think that cataracts would tend to scatter light and that by reducing cataracts, lutein might improve cataract-scatter-induced glare sensitivity but wouldn't necessarily address heightened transmission of light to the retinas in people who have difficulty with glare because of light-colored irisis, no? > I see traces from the sun. If, for example, I am playing hackey sack > on a sunny day, and I have to kind of spin when I kick, I will see a > giant strip of light corresponding to where the sunlight crossed my > vision, that will take probably at least a minute to fade away. This happens to me constantly when playing tennis, either when I look up to serve (which then makes it really hard to handle the return, if there is one) or when my eye wanders across the river, where there's often a lot of glare, or up into the air to handle a lob. Needless to say, it's really unpleasant. > I bet > this also makes me need more vitamin A, because vitamin A is VERY > sensitive to light -- in labs it has to be dealt with under red light > -- so I bet people with light eyes suffer much more oxidative > destruction of it in the eye, which has the highest concentration of > vitamin A in the body. Do you suppose it means people like us also need more zinc? - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 , > Was that a cataract study, though? I don't remember. I don't think so -- I think it was aimed at increasing macular pigment and reducing age-associated macular degeneration. > I'd think that cataracts would > tend to scatter light and that by reducing cataracts, lutein might > improve cataract-scatter-induced glare sensitivity but wouldn't > necessarily address heightened transmission of light to the retinas in > people who have difficulty with glare because of light-colored irisis, > no? I would expect it to reduce the transmission of blue light because it absorbs blue light. [snip] > Do you suppose it means people like us also need more zinc? Well, zinc is involved with vitamin A in these processes, but I don't think it is possible for zinc to get oxidatively degraded by light in the way that vitamin A is, so I don't suspect it (although it there could be other reasons for increasing the need for zinc in either of us, or I may be missing something). Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Chris- > I don't remember. I don't think so -- I think it was aimed at > increasing macular pigment and reducing age-associated macular > degeneration. Hmm, interesting. I'll have to look into this further if I get the chance. > > Do you suppose it means people like us also need more zinc? > > Well, zinc is involved with vitamin A in these processes, but I don't > think it is possible for zinc to get oxidatively degraded by light in > the way that vitamin A is, so I don't suspect it (although it there > could be other reasons for increasing the need for zinc in either of > us, or I may be missing something). I was just thinking in the general sense that zinc is required for the utilization of A, but I don't know whether it's efficiently recycled or not, so if there's more ongoing destruction of A, would someone then require more zinc? - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 , > I was just thinking in the general sense that zinc is required for the > utilization of A, but I don't know whether it's efficiently recycled > or not, so if there's more ongoing destruction of A, would someone > then require more zinc? I suppose that is possible, and more protein too, which is needed for transport of A from the liver. But there must be some threshold where these would be sufficient, and you wouldn't necessarily need more in proportion ot the amount of vitamin A you need. And if you're eating a lot of liver, you're probably getting plenty of vitamin A, I would think. I wouldn't take the glare thing as necessarily a sign of needing more than you're already getting; but it could be a sign that you need more than other people do, and that any symptoms of deficiency might be more plausible because of it. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Seems like Adele mentions some b vitamins as being implicated in sensitivity to light (b-6?), and for the vitamin A connection, I recall that she says that working under flouorescent light, and concentrating on white paper dramatically ups the body's need for vitamin A- so I would imagine staring at a computer screen under bright light eats up even more than she was commenting upon. The b's are the stress vitamins, so an unknown stress could be sucking your daily intake right into the cortisol void. . . I'm in the middle of reading Eat Right to Keep Fit- so I'll let you know if she mentions a zinc connection when I get there. Desh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 --- Masterjohn <chrismasterjohn@...> wrote: > I one of my classes, we talked about a study showing that lutein > reduced glare sensitivity. I'm not quite sure why lutein and > zeaxanthin would help with night blindness, although I suppose they > probably protect the vitamin A from oxidation, especially > light-induced. and , my eyes are blue and I'm sensitive to too much light too. I squint heavily in bright light. I suspect part of my problem has to do with pupil dilation. Mine tend to be overly dilated. I'm not sure what dietary factors might affect that aspect of the problem. As far as lutein and zeaxanthin, I sorted my spreadsheet of USDA factory-farm nutrient data to get the following foods with the highest amounts, in mcg/100g: 18246 Kale, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 15690 Spinach, frozen, chopped or leaf, boiled, drained, no salt 13157 Spices, pepper, red or cayenne 12198 Spinach, raw 11015 Chard, swiss, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 8440 Turnip greens, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 5530 Spices, coriander leaf, dried 5530 Spices, parsley, dried 2400 Peas, green, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 2312 Lettuce, cos or romaine, raw 2125 Squash, summer, zucchini, includes skin, raw 1900 Leeks, (bulb and lower leaf-portion), raw 1819 Beet greens, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1730 Lettuce, green leaf, raw 1724 Lettuce, red leaf, raw 1538 Peas and carrots, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1498 Broccoli, frozen, chopped, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1415 Squash, winter, all varieties, cooked, baked, without salt 1300 Cereals ready-to-eat, corn flakes, low sodium 1290 Brussels sprouts, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1205 Nuts, pistachio nuts, dry roasted, without salt added 1150 Spices, basil, dried 1094 Egg, yolk, raw, fresh 1080 Broccoli, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1014 Pumpkin, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 967 Corn, sweet, yellow, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 893 Peas, edible-podded, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 865 Coriander (cilantro) leaves, raw 862 Spices, oregano, dried 862 Spices, sage, ground 862 Spices, thyme, dried 725 Peppers, hot chili, green, raw 687 Carrots, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 648 Fish, caviar, black and red, granular 618 Asparagus, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 564 Beans, snap, green, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained without salt 510 Olives, pickled, canned or bottled, green Among animal foods, fish eggs and chicken yolks are best. I suspect eggs from pastured chickens probably have a lot more than those from factory-farm chickens. Just eat a gram of cayenne pepper every day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 - > and , my eyes are blue and I'm sensitive to too much light > too. I squint heavily in bright light. I suspect part of my problem > has to do with pupil dilation. Mine tend to be overly dilated. I'm > not sure what dietary factors might affect that aspect of the problem. Interesting. My eyes seem to dilate and contract quite speedily, though, so I don't share that problem, but light irises apparently do allow more light to pass through them (regardless of pupil dilation or contraction) than dark ones. Actually, it seems kind of strange that people with northern ancestry would have light irises, then, since their ancestors might reasonably be expected to have had to contend with lots of glare from snow and ice... Anyone have any thoughts or information on that? > Among animal foods, fish eggs and chicken yolks are best. I suspect > eggs from pastured chickens probably have a lot more than those from > factory-farm chickens. > > Just eat a gram of cayenne pepper every day Urk. I already eat a ridiculous number of egg yolks (up to six a day) but I suppose I could take cayenne capsules and hope for the best. <g> So would that actually darken my irises in the fullness of time? - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 , > So would that actually darken my irises in the fullness of time? I don't know for sure, but I believe they are beleived to especially accumulate in the macula. I think the effect is more by absorbing the light that enters the eye than blocking its entry. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 --- Idol <Idol@...> wrote: > Urk. I already eat a ridiculous number of egg yolks (up to six a day) > but I suppose I could take cayenne capsules and hope for the best. <g> , I eat three egg yolks a day and I thought that was a lot. > So would that actually darken my irises in the fullness of time? The cayenne pepper would probably darken your digestive tract first http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin " studies have shown an association between chronic consumption of capsaicin-rich foods and stomach cancer " Actually, I like hot sausage. I could see eating more hot sausage made with cayenne pepper. But it's hard to know the optimal amount. Like any good thing, too much can be bad. All I know is that if it makes my eyes water, it's too hot for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 24, 2008 Report Share Posted March 24, 2008 On 3/23/08, De Bell-Frantz <deshabell@...> wrote: > Seems like Adele mentions some b vitamins as being implicated in > sensitivity to light (b-6?), I don't know about B6, but there is a B2-containing protein that is involved in light sensation and regulation of the cirdadian rhythm, and B2 is very sensitive to light-induced degradation, which I had forgotten to mention before. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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