National Eye Care Day | Have you opened an account for your child in the "Vision Bank"?

Author: Cui Yihui, registered dietitian, master of medicine

Reviewer: Zhu Xueping, Professor and Chief Physician, Children's Hospital Affiliated to Soochow University

June 6th of every year is National Eye Care Day. The theme of the upcoming 28th "Eye Care Day" in 2023 is " Pay attention to general eye health ", focusing on two major groups: children and adolescents, and the elderly, emphasizing the importance of eye health for all age groups and throughout the life cycle . Children's eye health is particularly important in a person's life.

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Myopia has become a global public health issue. The prevalence of myopia among adults in parts of East Asia and Southeast Asia can be as high as 80% to 90%; the global myopic population is nearly 2 billion. According to the trend analysis of myopia epidemiology, myopia is expected to affect about 50% of the world's population in 2050! China is a country with a high myopia rate. Data from the National Health Commission show that as early as 2018, the overall myopia rate among children and adolescents nationwide reached 53.6%, which means that one in every two children and adolescents in China is myopic. Myopia among children and adolescents has become the main cause of vision impairment in China, and glasses have become the "standard" for teenagers. In addition, the age at which myopia occurs is getting younger and younger. The high myopia rate has increased the prevalence of pathological myopia among children and adolescents by 8%, and pathological myopia has become the third leading cause of blindness.

The data is shocking and the task is arduous. The first step to prevent and control myopia is to prevent it before it happens. At present, the international community and my country's National Health Commission have revised the staging of myopia. Myopia is mainly divided into pre-myopia, low myopia and high myopia. The concept of pre-myopia has been added compared to the original staging, indicating that prevention is more important than treatment.

In fact, in the early stages of myopia, protecting eyesight and maintaining eye health do not require parents and children to do any high-tech "hard work", but are things that can be easily done in daily life. Today, I will give you some tips to help your children establish a " three good accounts " in their "vision bank" to store good nutrition, good habits, good doctors and good assistants for their future "eyes" colorful world.

1. Good nutrition

Scientific diet and balanced nutrition are important to everyone's overall health. When it comes to eye health, the nutritional effects of three nutrients are particularly critical. They are called the "three major nutritional guards of the eye team."

1. Lutein

Lutein is known as "eye gold" in the nutrition world because it can protect the most sensitive and fragile part of our eyes - the macula. The macula is located on the retina and is responsible for the light perception and imaging of the eye. Although it is only 2 mm in size, it contains a wealth of visual cells and is the most sensitive area of ​​the retina.

Lutein can not only fight free radicals and has antioxidant capacity, but also absorb and filter short-wave blue light emitted by various electronic products. It can be said to be the number one "natural enemy" of blue light . In today's era of electronic products, children's eyes will be damaged by blue light. Adequate lutein reserves can minimize the damage.

Lutein is mainly found in plant foods. Corn is rich in lutein. Dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, and yellow-orange fruits and vegetables such as carrots, pumpkin, papaya, and citrus are all rich in lutein. Egg yolk is also a very good ingredient for providing lutein.

(ii) Anthocyanins

Purple anthocyanins have powerful antioxidant properties. In terms of nutrition, the regeneration capacity of the photosensitive pigment, rhodopsin, can be enhanced by consuming anthocyanins, thereby improving the night vision of the eyes.

Anthocyanins are very abundant in red, purple and even black berries, vegetables, potatoes and cereal seed coats . Familiar foods such as blueberries, purple mulberries, black currants, purple grapes, eggplants, purple cabbage, black rice, purple corn, black beans, purple sweet potatoes, etc. are rich in anthocyanins. You can take turns to serve them on the table to protect your children's eyesight.

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3. DHA

"Brain Gold" - DHA, as an essential fatty acid that the human body cannot synthesize on its own, plays a relatively important role in nourishing the brain and eyes and promoting vision development. It is not only an important component of the optic nerve cell membrane, but also the most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid in the retina.

After pregnancy, mothers should pay attention to the supplementation of DHA, and provide sufficient nutrition for the child's brain development and eye development as soon as possible. Tuna, salmon, sardines and other deep-sea fish are rich in DHA, and children can eat deep-sea fish 1 to 2 times a week. Children who are not suitable for eating fish can also take DHA through egg yolks. There are also nutritional gummies on the market specifically for children and adolescents to supplement DHA, which is also a good choice for supplementing DHA.

4. Balanced nutrition

In addition to the above nutrients that are beneficial to the eyes, maintaining a balanced nutrition is also very important for children's eyesight.

2. Good Habits

1. Use your eyes scientifically and use electronic products reasonably

The posture for reading and writing should be correct, and the three ones should be achieved, that is, one fist, one foot, and one inch. Do not read while lying down, riding in a car, or walking. The reading time should not be too long. Every 40 to 50 minutes, take a 10 to 15 minute break, close your eyes and rest or look into the distance for a few minutes. The single use of electronic products for non-learning purposes should not exceed 15 minutes, and the total time per day should not exceed 1 hour. Pay attention to the light adjustment when using your eyes, do not read in strong or weak light, prevent excessive eye fatigue, and do eye exercises regularly. The younger the age, the shorter the continuous use of electronic products should be. If you must use them, try to use a large screen.

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2. Spend more time outdoors and less time at home

Red light in a certain band in natural light has a controlling effect on the prevention and development of myopia. Taking children to nature more often and doing some outdoor activities or sports will not only help to enhance children's physical fitness, but also relax the body and mind and protect eyesight, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

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3. Ensure sleep and don’t stay up late

Nighttime is a precious time for the eyes to rest and relax. Adequate sleep can promote the normal secretion of important hormones such as growth hormone, which is beneficial to the healthy growth and development of the body and eyes.

3. Good Doctors and Good Assistants

Due to the change of education mode and the advancement of electronic teaching, the prevention of myopia is becoming more and more important. Therefore, it is particularly important to have a good eye examination regularly. If myopia occurs, controlling the speed of myopia development becomes the top priority. Good wearing habits, the use of low-concentration atropine, and reverse photography have become good assistants for parents and doctors.

Conclusion

If a person's health "bank" should be invested and saved from a young age, then eye health should be started from childhood. Parents have the responsibility and obligation to help their children make reserves in their "vision bank" accounts as early as possible. This is definitely a far-sighted investment , and children will benefit from it for life.

Starting today, let’s take action together to make our children’s future more colorful!

References

[1] Yang Yuexin, Ge Keyou. Encyclopedia of Chinese Nutrition Science[M]. Beijing: People's Medical Publishing House, 2019.