Colorful fresh foods improve athletes' vision
Visual range is a critical asset for top athletes in almost any sport


Date:
June 8, 2023
Source:
University of Georgia
Summary:
Nutrition is an important part of any top athlete's training
program. And now, a new study proposes that supplementing the diet
of athletes with colorful fruits and vegetables could improve their
visual range. The paper examines how a group of plant compounds
that build up in the retina, known as macular pigments, work to
improve eye health and functional vision.


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FULL STORY ========================================================================== Nutrition is an important part of any top athlete's training program. And
now, a new study by researchers from the University of Georgia proposes
that supplementing the diet of athletes with colorful fruits and
vegetables could improve their visual range.

The paper, which was published in Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews,
examines how a group of plant compounds that build up in the retina, known
as macular pigments, work to improve eye health and functional vision.

Previous studies done by UGA researchers Billy R. Hammond and Lisa Renzi- Hammond have shown that eating foods like dark leafy greens or yellow
and orange vegetables, which contain high levels of the plant compounds
lutein and zeaxanthin, improves eye and brain health.

"A lot of the research into macular lutein and zeaxanthin has focused on
health benefits, but from a functional perspective, higher concentrations
of these plant pigments improve many aspects of visual and cognitive
ability. In this paper, we discuss their ability to improve vision in the
far distance or visual range," said lead author Jack Harth, a doctoral candidate in UGA's College of Public Health.

Visual range, or how well a person can see a target clearly over distance,
is a critical asset for top athletes in almost any sport.

The reason why objects get harder to see and appear fuzzier the farther
they are from our eyes is thanks in part to the effects of blue light.

"From a center fielder's perspective, if that ball's coming up in the air,
it will be seen against a background of bright blue sky, or against a gray background if it's a cloudy day. Either way, the target is obscured by atmospheric interference coming into that path of the light," said Harth.

Many athletes already take measures to reduce the impact of blue light
through eye black or blue blocker sunglasses, but eating more foods rich
in lutein and zeaxanthin can improve the eye's natural ability to handle
blue light exposure, said Harth.

When a person absorbs lutein and zeaxanthin, the compounds collect as
yellow pigments in the retina and act as a filter to prevent blue light
from entering the eye.

Previous work had been done testing the visual range ability of pilots in
the 1980s, and Hammond and Renzi-Hammond have done more recent studies
on how macular pigment density, or how much yellow pigment is built
up in the retina, is linked to a number of measures of eye health and functional vision tests.

"In a long series of studies, we have shown that increasing amounts of
lutein and zeaxanthin in the retina and brain decrease glare disability
and discomfort and improve chromatic contrast and visual-motor reaction
time, and supplementing these compounds facilitates executive functions
like problem- solving and memory. All of these tasks are particularly
important for athletes," said corresponding author Billy R. Hammond,
a professor of psychology in the Behavior and Brain Sciences Program at
UGA's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

This paper, Harth said, brings the research on these links between
macular pigment and functional vision up to date and asks what the
evidence suggests about optimizing athletic performance.

"We're at a point where we can say we've seen visual range differences
in pilots that match the differences found in modeling, and now, we've
also seen it in laboratory tests, and a future goal would be to actually
bring people outside and to measure their ability to see contrast over
distance through real blue haze and in outdoor environments," said Harth.

But before you start chowing down on kale in the hopes of improving your
game, he cautions that everybody is different. That could mean the way
our bodies absorb and use lutein and zeaxanthin varies, and it could
take a while before you notice any improvements, if at all.

Still, the evidence of the overall health benefits of consuming more
lutein and zeaxanthin are reason enough to add more color to your diet,
say the authors.

"We have data from modeling and empirical studies showing that higher
macular pigment in your retina will improve your ability to see over
distance. The application for athletes is clear," said Harth.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Health_&_Medicine
# Eye_Care # Sports_Medicine # Diseases_and_Conditions
o Mind_&_Brain
# Perception # Intelligence # Educational_Psychology
o Plants_&_Animals
# Animal_Learning_and_Intelligence # Food #
Frogs_and_Reptiles
* RELATED_TERMS
o Visual_perception o Nutrition o Detox_diet o
Bitemporal_hemianopsia o General_fitness_training o
Eye_examination o Physical_exercise o Psychotherapy

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Georgia. Original
written by Lauren Baggett. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Jacob B. Harth, Lisa M. Renzi-Hammond, Billy R. Hammond. A Dietary
Strategy for Optimizing the Visual Range of Athletes. Exercise
and Sport Sciences Reviews, 2023; Publish Ahead of Print DOI:
10.1249/ JES.0000000000000318 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230608120930.htm

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