Lutein's Role in Eye Health

Raena Morgan: Dr. Showalter could you tell us a little bit more about the eye and lutein’s role. You talk about the pigment. What would we find if we dissected an eye, for example? Dr. Holly Showalter: If you looked at the human macula, and the macula’s the center of the retina—if you actually looked at a cross section of that it would look yellow. And then, that yellow spot is actually the Lutein that deposits when you ingest it. It goes to the eye and deposits there. And, its role there really is to absorb the high energy blue light when it enters your eye and quenches that. So, it acts as an antioxidant to quench the reactive oxygen species which are damaging to the retina, as well as it filters the chemical nature of the molecule, actually helps it filter that harmful blue light. And, you get blue light— Raena Morgan: Yes, I was wondering…[where it comes from]? Dr. Holly Showalter: This light that’s around us for this interview is blue light, in offices, so you can get it in indoor fluorescent lighting, as well as when you’re outside, obviously on the beach or just being outside. It’s part of the spectrum in the natural light. So, I guess you could say you are bombarded with it outdoors and indoors all day. And, that blue light, that high energy blue light is actually what’s responsible for damaging the macula, and degrades it. So, you want to have Lutein in your macula to help protect [it] from that damaging. Raena Morgan: Does it filter it? Does the Lutein filter it? Dr. Holly Showalter: Yes, it acts as a filter. I mean, you can actually think of like an oil filter filters oil in a car and Lutein filters the blue light coming into the eye and helps prevent the oxidation from happening. Raena Morgan: Well now, we hear about wearing sunglasses to filter out ultra violet rays. Is there a connection there? Dr. Holly Showalter: Yes, there would be. Sunglasses are great to wear, and you should wear them when you’re outside. Raena Morgan: So, how is blue light—is it similar to ultra violet light at all? Dr. Holly Showalter: Ultra violet light is even more high energy light. Blue light is a little bit less energy but it still is enough damage—it can be enough [to] damage…the eye. Raena Morgan: All right. Well, you’ve give us some valuable information. Thank you Dr. Showalter. Dr. Holly Showalter: Thank you.