Enhancing Vision With Dragon Fruit

Introduction

There are many poems and quotes about eyes. My favourite one is from Theodore Roosevelt, “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” This quote highlights the importance of visualising and practising. For all ambitious people, a long-sighted goal and down-to-earth practices are essential. We use our eyes to discover the world, navigate reality, and inspect opportunities and dangers around us. Therefore, keeping our eyes on good health is crucial for everyone.

How does vision health impact other body functions?

Vision health and perceptivity

Eyes, ears, hands, mouth and nose are five sensory organs in your body. The eyes play an important role in cognitive functions in your brain; they are visual sensory parts that allow you to see. The eyes help us collect information about the circumstances in our surroundings, our eyes capture and form images at the retina (photoreceptors), and then transmit them along neuronal pathways for the brain to perceive a visual picture. This process, also known as vision perceptivity, involves recognizing shapes, colours, and depth and interpreting spatial relationships between objects. A good vision can help our brain to make good judgements and better decisions.¹

Vision health and physical function

Apart from cognitive functions, vision health is also associated with our physical functions. Our retinal condition can reflect many diseases. According to Stanford Medicine, with the help of a technology called “fundus photography”, clinical professionals can more precisely identify and diagnose invisible health issues, such as endocarditis, diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure).²

Vision health and balance

Vision is connected with our balance system. To maintain balance in a certain space, our body needs to integrate visual, muscle, and vestibular (inner ear) systems. Vision and vestibular systems work closely and affect each other.^3,4 In early infant development, vestibular systems guide our balance and sense of direction. With the development of our visual skills in the first year, vision begins to guide balance. Dizziness and disequilibrium (imbalance) may result from vestibular-ocular reflex (VOR) disorder and binocular vision dysfunction (BVD). An article published by the Vestibular Disorder Association outlined the connection between vision and balance.

Why is vision health so important?

Good vision is critical for our overall well-being. Healthy eyes are also associated with good cognitive abilities and a healthy brain. Good vision can help your brain to coordinate your body and enhance your movements. Vision health is deeply linked with the quality of life. Loss of vision means loss of behavioural abilities, which can lead to negative impacts on daily activities, whereby patients may have to rely on help from carers or family.

Which nutrition can benefit vision health?

According to the American Optometric Association, lutein and zeaxanthin, vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc are key nutrients supporting vision health and preventing eye diseases like age-related macular degeneration (AMD).⁵

Why is dragon fruit good for your eye?

Dragon fruit has a unique and bright appearance. It has many names, “Pitaya”, “strawberry pear”, and “Selenicereus undatus”, but dragon fruit is the most commonly used name. Interestingly, dragon fruit grows on a cactus and is a natural energy resource, as it contains a high volume of carbohydrates.

Dragon fruit is rich in fibre and minerals such as potassium and magnesium, which help to improve our body metabolism and manage our blood pressure. A review pointed out that metabolic syndrome may contribute to eye disease development.⁶ Therefore, maintaining good blood pressure and normal metabolism are critical to your eye health.

Dragon fruit also contains vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, lutein, and zeaxanthin.7 These vitamins and minerals are known as antioxidants that help prevent damage to our cornea (a clear layer of the eye) from free radicals and ultraviolet light (UV). In consequence, these antioxidants can slow down the ageing progress of our eyes, reducing the risk of vision loss and colour blindness.

How do these nutrients affect vision health?

Nutrients are essential elements to support our body's health; they also play important roles in vision enhancement, you may wonder how these nutrients work on your eyes. What is the mechanism of action behind them?

Zinc impacts on retina health

Zinc is a trace element that influences the cell metabolism of the eyes. Zinc regulates vitamin A to transit from the liver to the retina and produce melanin, which is a pigment that protects your eyes from UV damage. Interestingly, zinc appears in high concentrations in the retina and choroid.⁸ Zinc deficiency may increase the risk of AMD and vision loss.

Paul A. Sieving, M.D., PhD, director of the National Eye Institute said, “The nutrients are not a cure for AMD, nor will they restore vision already lost from the disease”.

Vitamin C and E against eye diseases

Vitamins C and E are the superstars among antioxidant products.  Our eye has a particularly high metabolic rate and oxygen consumption compared with other body tissues. So, it is important to reduce oxidative stress and neurodegeneration to prevent age-associated eye disease.⁹ Vitamin C and E are powerful antioxidants that can fight free radical damage and slow the progression of AMD.

Lutein and zeaxanthin for macular Health

Sufficient intake of lutein and zeaxanthin has been shown to have a positive effect on reducing the risk of AMD and cataracts. Lutein and zeaxanthin are natural pigments highly concentrated in the macular region of the retina, so they have another name “macular pigments”. Although the role of macular pigments is not fully understood, researchers considered that macular pigment can reduce photo-oxidative damage via blue light absorption.¹⁰ Therefore, protecting eyes from UV and oxidative damage.

Incorporating dragon fruit into the daily diet

Now, that you understand how many benefits that dragon fruit offers for your vision health, you may start considering how to turn these benefits into your body. But before we plan to incorporate this fruit, it is always a good idea to see the full picture and think about what risks could it bring.

There are a few concerns we need to consider:

• One biggest problems for incorporating dragon fruit is financial consideration. Fresh dragon fruit is quite rare in the UK, which makes it unlikely to be popular in the diet. Thinking about this, dragon fruit is usually replaced by other price-friendly options, such as lemons, prunes, spinach, and kale, which are all rich in vitamin C, lutein and zeaxanthin
• On the other hand, dragon fruit is a natural laxative. For anyone who has constipation problems, this fruit may be a true friend of your gut health.11 However, if you have chronic diarrhoea symptoms, caution should be taken when consuming this fruit

Overall, dragon fruit is safe to use and good for your digestive system. Although fresh dragon fruit can be pricey and rarely seen in the UK, the cost of dragon fruit extract can be more affordable. Whether in the form of capsules or powder, they are both the extracted nutrition from dragon fruit. Here are some tips for you to incorporate dragon fruit extract into your diet:

• Do not use more than recommended: our body can only absorb a certain amount of nutrients each day. Overusing nutrients may cause side effects, such as increasing liver burden
• Keep a balanced diet: your body cannot totally rely on supplements or a monotropic diet, or count on supplements to preserve your health. Constantly avoiding taking proper food may cause gastrointestinal functional disorders
• Cannot replace prescribed medicine from your GP: dragon fruit has many benefits for your eyes, but it does not have the same efficacy as certain medicines. Nutrients can only help prevent vision disorders or preserve vision health, currently, there is no sufficient scientific evidence to prove the effects of dragon fruit to treat vision disorders. If your condition requires certain medicine interventions, do not stop using them before your healthcare professionals recommend it  

What other life factors may affect eye health?

The eyes are the most soft and fragile tissues that remain on the surface of our body. We have been using our eyes since we were born, but they do not need any daily care like our skin. However, our eye health is related to our habits and lifestyles. Unhealthy eye habits may cause a variety of eye issues, particularly long-term use of electric devices. Dry eyes, eye strain, and blurred vision are the most common side effects caused by overusing your eyes. An irregular and unbalanced diet, smoking, alcohol overconsumption, and lack of exercise are all potential risks to our health. Have a look at these Ten Best Habits for Healthy Eyes.

Summary

Vision health is extremely important for us to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Eyes are like cameras, capturing everything that happens around us. With the help of our eyes, our brains are able to organise and analyse information and signal our muscles to react to our surroundings. Good vision is essential for driving, moving, studying, and thinking. Good vision can enhance our cognitive abilities and body coordination. To maintain vision health, intake of sufficient nutrients can reduce the oxidative damage of the retina and cornea, and slow down the rate of eye ageing. Dragon fruit is rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, Lutein and Zeaxanthin, which are strong effective antioxidants that are able to protect our eye health.