The Great Eye Vitamin Scam: Why Lutein Does NOT Work

If you are taking vitamins that contain lutein … watch out.  You may be wasting your money or even worse, you may be getting little to no protection for your eyes.

Why?

Because there is a scam that is giving this good nutrient a bad wrap and you’ll learn right here how to protect yourself.

Countless people have been told that lutein is an essential antioxidant needed for healthy eyes and that they should be taking a daily dietary supplement containing lutein.

But there is one MAJOR catch by the vitamin makers that some people feel is a scam!

Unfortunately, many physicians who recommend that patients take a lutein supplement are not even aware of a problem and therefore cannot warn their patients.

So, what’s the catch?

Lutein is supposed to be very good for your eyes because it is a carotenoid, which is a naturally occurring pigment found in plants that give the plant rich colors of yellow, orange, and red. It recent years, lutein has gained much recognition for it antioxidant properties which protects the macula (the part of the eye’s retina responsible for crisp central vision) from harmful ultraviolet blue light (UVBs).

Think of lutein as internal sunglasses for your eyes– filtering out harmful light that is damaging to your eyes.

The problem is that not all lutein is created equal!

There is cheap lutein and there is high quality lutein.  The cheap stuff is far less absorbable by your body and therefore, less useable by your eyes.  This means the lutein that you are probably taking on a daily basis is not doing what it is supposed to be doing and is being eliminated by your body as waste.

Vitamin manufacturers know there is a difference in quality, however, most of them chose to use the cheap stuff to keep their costs down and this hurts the consumer.  Many vitamin makers also skimp on the levels of lutein they add to their supplement and may add only 1, 2, or 5 mg of cheap lutein.  This is less than half of what you should be taking!

It is recommended that you take 10 mg of a high quality lutein daily to protect the health of your eyes and to reap the most benefits of what lutein can offer.

The high quality lutein is called FloraGLO® lutein.  This is the type of lutein that was used in the massive and groundbreaking AREDS 2 study by the National Eye Institute of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

FloraGLO® lutein is more expensive for vitamin makers because it is high quality and is 5 times more bioavailable than the cheap stuff.  This means that your body absorbs it  and your eyes are better protected.

Conclusion

Lutein is very good for your eyes when you get the high quality lutein called FloraGLO®.  Make sure your eye vitamin says “FloraGLO® lutein” right on the label.  If it doesn’t say “FloraGLO®,” then you are taking an inferior product and it is not protecting the health of your eyes like a high quality product will do.