Prairie Naturals - Ocu-Blue

Product Notes:

Although it has a beneficial role in regulating our sleep/wake cycle and boosting mood, overexposure to high-energy blue wavelengths (i.e., blue light) can be harmful to our eyes, and most of us are bombarded with it: not only from sunshine, but also from indoor lighting and our many screen devices.

Fortunately, there is a way to mitigate those effects, not only by reducing our exposure through external physical means (with proper sunglasses, blue-blocking orange-tinted glasses, computer settings, and limiting screen time), but also internally.

It turns out that our bodies have adapted to utilize certain micronutrients (particularly Lutein and Zeaxanthin) which function as pigments in plants to, in essence, create miniature sunglasses at the back of the eye to absorb a lot of the blue wavelengths to protect the rod and cone cells immediately behind them from the effects of the oxidative damage that blue light can cause.

These first two substances do appear in a lot of foods that humans have historically had access to (but may not always eat enough of), which is probably why they became incorporated into the actual structure of our eyes (they accumulate in the retina and macula region, at the back of the eye). But to boost their effects, they are also accompanied here by an even more potent type of antioxidant, Astaxanthin: another type of carotenoid that's generally derived from microalgae (although it's also what gives certain marine life like salmon their pinkish colour).

Together, they can not only help guard against the effects of blue light and UV light damage over the longer term, but may also reduce inflammation and dryness of the eyes and improve visual quality by reducing sensitivity to glare, improving visual acuity and contrast sensitivity, and increasing blood flow to the eyes, in the more immediate term.