Dear Friends,
In my last letter, we reviewed the basics about lutein and the zeaxanthins, as well as food sources of these key nutrients (they aren’t easy to get from diet). If you missed it, you can find that letter here.
Today in Part 2, I’m going to review what lutein and the zeaxanthins do for vision and brain health, our favorite source for supplements (and its benefits), and wrap-up by sharing my perspective on how much lutein you should take daily.
For vision, the most important thing lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin do is help to protect the back part of your eyes against excess exposure to blue light waves.
Unlike other waves in the light spectrum, blue light can penetrate deep into the eye, reaching the back where the macula resides (it’s part of the retina).
Over time, this exposure causes oxidative stress, which can damage our vision and eye health as we age.
The macula and retina are very important parts of our eyes because they play a big role in making central vision possible and helping you see with high resolution.
While blue light can cause age-related eye problems over time, the effects of excess blue light exposure can be problematic in the short term too - and increase eye strain, dry eyes, and make it more challenging for your eyes to function.
Your Body’s Natural Blue Light Protection
It used to be that our main exposure to blue light was the sun.
Now we have all the digital screens in our lives – like computers, TVs, tablets and smart phones that also emit blue light. In general, the brighter the screen, the greater the blue light being emitted.
The bottom line is we’re exposed to much more blue light these days, so we need to support our body’s natural protection.
Our bodies naturally produce a yellow-colored macula pigment to help shield against the oxidation damage caused by blue light.
This protective pigment contains 3 nutrients with strong antioxidant properties that work together to shield cells in the macula from harmful blue light rays.
As you may have guessed, these nutrients are lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin.
You need all 3 nutrients because they work in different layers of the macula and will give you the best support.
While we can’t completely stop blue light damage as we age, with the help of these 3 nutrients we can pump the brakes a bit and slow down its effects by promoting greater macula pigment density.
Supplements Can Increase Protection
To assess or measure the amount of protective macula pigment you may have, researchers use equipment to test for what’s called MPOD – or macula pigment optical density.
In fact, one of the ways to assess the short-term effectiveness of lutein and zeaxanthin supplements is analyze the change in MPOD.
A good supplement typically can improve MPOD in as a little as a few months – which is very important for protecting against age-related vision damage over time.
On top of this, in the shorter term, supplementing with lutein and zeaxanthin can help promote better central vision, supports our ability to see in low light and at night, and helps your eyes recover from glare.
All of these are important for improving quality of living.
Brain & Cognitive Function Support
When it comes to brain health, the science of the role of lutein and the zeaxanthins is still evolving.
But researchers are finding that the need for lutein in the brain starts at infancy and continues through adulthood.
It’s not too surprising that these nutrients can help both vision and brain health because the eyes and brain are adjacent organs that work closely together to allow us to see.
Many researchers now view the eyes as an extension of the brain with changes in eye health providing a window to changes in the health of the brain.
It was about 10 years ago that a study in the Journal of Gerontology linked higher blood levels of lutein and zeaxanthin with better cognition, memory and executive function.
Other studies have found a correlation between higher MPOD and better cognitive function too.
These observations are interesting, but could we promote better cognitive function by giving our bodies more lutein and zeaxanthin?
Some recent studies with our favorite source of lutein and the zeaxanthins for supplements have started to get answers to this question, and we’ll go over some of those findings shortly.
But one of the ways lutein appears to support brain function is by promoting increased levels of BDNF, which is brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
BDNF plays an important role in learning and memory and is currently getting a lot of research attention from the scientific community.
In addition, lutein and the zeaxanthins may help brain cells talk with each other and communicate, which is important for many aspects of cognitive function. This may be the reason why your brain allows lutein and zeaxanthin to cross that protective blood brain barrier.
Now let’s transition to our favorite source of lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin for supplements, which is the Lutemax 2020 ingredient.
Lutemax 2020 – A Single Source of All 3 Nutrients
Unlike other similar ingredients, Lutemax 2020 naturally provides a single source of all 3 of these nutrients, which are extracted from the marigold flower.
The maker of Lutemax 2020 controls the production process from seed to shelf, using a vertically integrated supply chain for sustainability, traceability, and transparency.
Lutemax 2020 has won several awards for its quality and science-backed benefits.
Research indicates that Lutemax 2020 is very safe when used as recommended. It has been studied in both adults and children.
Lutemax 2020 has been shown to increase macular pigment optical density (MPOD) in just 8 weeks, which helps protect against the blue light damage that accumulates over a lifetime.
Vision health research with Lutemax 2020 indicates it may help you in several other ways such as helping to:
• Support central vision and color contrast
• Promote the ability to see in low light or at night
• Protect against vulnerability to glare
• Reduce the eye strain and eye fatigue that results from staring at computer and phone screens much of the day.
How Lutemax 2020 May Help Brain Health
A study with Lutemax 2020 in young healthy adults found supplementing for 6 months helped certain areas of cognitive performance.
These included composite memory, verbal memory, sustained attention, and psychomotor speed (which measures how quickly your brain and body respond to a stimulus).
Also improving was processing speed, which is how quickly your brain receives, understands, and responds to information.
Another study looked at the effects of lutein and zeaxanthin supplementation on the cognitive function of an older group (those between the ages of 40 and 75), who at this point weren’t as cognitively sharp as in their younger years.
Like in the previous study, after 6 months those taking the supplements experienced significant improvements in cognitive performance compared to the placebo group.
The tests used in this study were different from the other study, but here the researchers reported improvements in visual episodic memory (this helps you visualize and recall experiences or events that happened to you in the past – like a meal at a restaurant).
Other improvements in those taking the supplements were found in delayed word recall, word recognition, and visual learning.
Emotional Health Support
As you may know, another thing that affects our cognitive function and emotional well-being is our ability to cope with stress.
A 12-month study with Lutemax 2020 in young healthy adults was conducted to see if taking lutein and the zeaxanthins could help with feelings of stress.
At the end of the study, the researchers found that levels of serum cortisol (often called the stress hormone) in those taking Lutemax 2020 were in a significantly healthier range than the placebo group.
In addition, those taking the supplements also experienced significant improvements in measures of psychological stress and emotional well-being.
There’s more research to do and understand, but to date the results of taking a supplement with lutein, zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin for cognitive and stress support are promising.
How Much Should You Take?
The last topic we’re going to cover today is how much Lutemax 2020 should be taken daily.
A single capsule of our TrueVision formula (with Lutemax 2020) gives you 10mg of lutein and 2mg of the zeaxanthins, which over time gives you ample vision health support.
We’re sometimes asked if doubling up to 20mg of lutein and 4mg of the zeaxanthins is better. To answer this question, recall that lutein and the zeaxanthins are fat-soluble and accumulate in the body.
What’s more, the main goal with Lutemax 2020 for vision health is to increase and maintain that protective macula pigment (to guard against damaging effect of blue light), as measured by MPOD.
In head-to-head studies of those taking the lower and higher doses of Lutemax 2020, study participants had similar improvements in MPOD after 3 and 6 months.
Taking the double dosage can help jumpstart results in the first month or two but being consistent with the single 10 mg of lutein and 2mg of the zeaxanthins will likely get you to a similar place over time.
It’s an individual decision, but I think you’re better off investing that extra money in something else that helps your vision health like the saffron extract we use in TrueVision.
The TrueVision formula combines Lutemax 2020 and the Affron Eye saffron extract for what we feel is better overall eye health support.nature
Yours for Good Health,
Carl Pradelli
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