Dr Ozy Okonokhua, President, Nigerian Optometric Association (NOA) has advised Nigerians to consume foods, fruits and vegetables for good sight.
Okonokhua said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja, that such foods naturally helped in improving sight due to their richness in carotenes.
According to Wikipedia carotenes are orange, yellow and red pigments found largely in fruit, vegetables and dark green leafy vegetables. Some of the foods rich in carotene include carrot, sweet potatoes, broccoli, dark leafy greens such as kale and spinach, romaine, lettuce, squash, red and yellow peppers.
Okonokhua said “To ensure healthy eye sight we encourage intake of fruits and food items that are rich in carotene this is because carotene generally helps to improve the integrity of the eye.
“So, we encourage fruits and vegetables, foods rich in carotene and vegetables also help to increase the integrity of the eye”.
He frowned at the rate of consumption of fatty foods by majority of the populace and urged Nigerians to stay off such diets due to their health implications.
According to him, fatty foods affect the health of individuals and also impact negatively on their visual system.
He also discouraged the populace from the consumption of fizzy drinks as well as sugary diets. He attributed this to the current increase in cases of diabetes.
“We should avoid sugary diet so that we don’t develop diabetes which will affect the visual system negatively. We should also avoid too much salt intake because too much salt intake will eventually lead to high blood pressure and some eye diseases.
“Such diseases can invariably lead to visual impairment. We should avoid excessive sugar and salt intake, you should also avoid fatty foods and then dwell more on fruits and vegetables that are reach in carotene,” he noted.