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Health Benefits of Lutein and Top Food Sources

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/lutein

Lutein is a type of carotenoid that has antioxidant properties and can provide various health benefits.

The most researched benefit of lutein is related to eye health, but it has also been linked to heart health, improved cognitive function, and reduced risk of certain types of cancer.

This article explores everything you need to know about lutein, including food sources of it, supplements, health benefits, and potential risks.

Lutein is a xanthophyll, or an oxygen-containing carotenoid. Carotenoids are responsible for the naturally occurring yellow, orange, and red pigments found in foods. They are considered an essential nutrient — since our bodies can’t make them, we must get them through food.

There are two types of carotenoids. Xanthophylls, which contain oxygen and usually contribute to yellow pigments, and carotenes, which don’t contain oxygen and tend to contribute to orange pigments.

Lutein is found in the retina of the eye, along with another xanthophyll, zeaxanthin. Because these carotenoids are found concentrated in the back of the eye, they are known as macular pigments and may be beneficial for eye health.

Lutein has antioxidant properties that may also play a role in cognitive function, heart health, and the prevention of some cancers, though more studies are needed.

The Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) is an often-cited study on lutein and eye health. Researchers looked at specific formulations of supplements and their impact on age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

A supplement containing lutein and zeaxanthin reduced the occurrence of advanced AMD by 25% over 5 years in people who already had AMD. In people without AMD, the supplement did not prevent or treat the condition.

Beta carotene, another carotenoid linked to eye health, was originally used in the supplement but was found to increase the risk of lung cancer in people who smoke.

Swapping out beta carotene for lutein and zeaxanthin was just as beneficial for eye health and did not increase lung cancer risk.

Another eye-health plus for lutein is that it’s an antioxidant. Inflammation and oxidative stress are related to eye conditions such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and macular degeneration.

Lutein has antioxidant properties, and studies have found it to be significantly effective in the prevention of these eye conditions.

Additionally, research suggests that lutein is important for babies’ eye development during pregnancy and for vision throughout their lifespan, though more research is needed to determine the optimal dose for pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Lastly, lutein may be an effective treatment for dry eyes, though more studies in this area are needed.

High dietary intakes of lutein, as well as high levels of circulating lutein, have been associated with better heart health.

One study associated lutein and zeaxanthin with improvements in clinical markers in patients with heart disease. Researchers believe the anti-inflammatory properties were beneficial and suggest continued research in this area.

Another study found that daily supplementation of 20 mg of lutein for 3 months was associated with a decrease in cholesterol and triglyceride levels, both of which are known risk factors for heart disease.

However, research on lutein and heart health is mixed overall, and some studies have found no correlation at all. More research, specifically in humans, is needed to determine lutein’s role in heart health.

Lutein, along with other carotenoids, may improve cancer prognosis.

One study found that a high intake of lutein, along with other nutrients found in fruits and vegetables, was associated with a decreased risk of pancreatic cancer.

Additionally, lutein, along with other carotenoids, may be protective against breast cancer as well as head and neck cancer.

Overall, research on lutein and its benefits relating to cancer is promising but not definitive, and more human studies are needed.

Research indicates that a high dietary intake and high circulating levels of lutein are associated with both better cognitive performance and enhanced memory.

One study found that a daily supplement including 10 mg of lutein along with zeaxanthin and meso-zeaxanthin was effective in improving memory over the course of 1 year.

Carotenoids overall may play a protective role in preventing neurodegenerative diseases, too, meaning they may help promote brain health in older age, though the research is still mixed.

Lutein is generally found in dark, leafy green vegetables and yellow-pigmented foods. Because it’s a fat-soluble nutrient, you need to consume some fat to absorb the lutein you eat.

Some lutein-rich food sources are:

- egg yolks (the most readily absorbed source, as a result of their fat content)
- basil
- parsley
- dark leafy green vegetables such as spinach, kale, broccoli, and lettuce
- yellow corn
- red grapes
- durum wheat
- peas

Because lutein is fat-soluble, your body will absorb it best when you eat it with other foods, particularly foods containing fat. However, if you prefer, lutein is available in supplement form, often in conjunction with zeaxanthin or as a part of the AREDS-2 formulation for eye health.

A typical diet contains 1–3 mg of lutein per day, but most benefits have been shown at 6 mg per day, which can be achieved through consuming food sources of lutein.

Most supplements contain 20 mg or more, which is much higher than the amount needed to get the benefits of lutein. However, most studies on lutein have used doses from 10–40 mg per day and have not found any adverse effects.

Lutein is categorized as Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS), meaning that research has not found a significant link between regular lutein consumption and adverse side effects.

However, high intakes of xanthophylls, in general, have been linked to an increased risk of skin and stomach cancers.

While results from these studies were not found to be significant, more research is needed to confirm safe and optimal doses of xanthophylls such as lutein.

Before adding lutein supplements to your diet, it’s a good idea to talk with your doctor.

Lutein is a type of carotenoid with strong antioxidant properties that have been shown to be beneficial for eye health, cognitive function, and heart health and may even help decrease the risk of some cancers.

However, while some of the research is promising, most if it is not definitive and more studies are needed to confirm some of these benefits.

Foods such as dark, leafy greens and egg yolks are great sources of lutein. While you can find lutein in supplement form, it is possible to consume enough lutein through diet alone.

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Vandread DVD Ultimate Collection - Review - Anime News Network

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/vandread/dvd-ultimate-collection

Boy raised in all-male world is captured and held by a pirate crew comprised of women from an all-female world... You can smell the geek wish-fulfillment on that premise from a mile off. It's one of the peculiar traits of anime, though, that poor premises often yield surprising results. At first glance Infinite Ryvius was a "Lord of the Flies in space" joke, and what was Evangelion but another in a long line of alien invasion stories? Given the dark wit of its opening sequence, during which an interplanetary war is couched in terms familiar to anyone who's had a spat with a spouse, Vandread would appear to be in their company (if less seriously so).

And many of its better qualities seem to bear that out. It establishes its sci-fi credentials early on, setting up social systems and reproductive strategies for the male and female regimes, touching on issues of living machines (which it explores later), and creating a believable—and horrifying—reason for the sexual divide. It doesn't forget its emotional core either, keeping its sights set firmly on the hearts and minds of its protagonists. Nor does it forget that internal strife, be it political or personal, is as dangerous as any organ-harvesting alien. It even manages to use its pulp premise to add a few refreshing twists to romantic comedy tropes. Lead premise, anime alchemy and bang! entertainment gold. Right? Half-right. It certainly pulls the right strings to keep its wish-fulfillment reigned in, but as it turns out, Vandread's premise isn't its problem. Its problem is that it just isn't that good.

The series goes nowhere that isn't fully expected (though the reasons for the sexual divide come close). It clings with dispiriting vigor to established fight structures: the hero faces enemies of escalating power, pulling from within (with the help of comrades) the gumption and pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo necessary to beat down each successive challenger. The cast doesn't fare much better, with Hibiki (the fiery-souled, constantly shouting teen mecha pilot) leading the pack of irritating stereotypes that range from the ditz to the ice queen to the tough-talking mechanic with the swarthy complexion and penchant for chewing on a stalk of...something. They do grow as the series progresses, though whenever they do someone always has to blurt out "boy you've changed!" like some characterization-heralding foghorn.

Even the series' better qualities come with caveats. Those social systems and reproductive strategies? Give the series props for actually having them, but take them away for relying on broad and often offensive generalizations in their construction. Male society as dunderheaded military dictatorship? Given past propensities, I'll buy that. Women's as an escalating game of "One-up the Joneses"? Some effigy-burning may be called for.

Now none of that necessarily rules out a good time. And indeed the series has its moments, most of them when it is exploring the tentative and surprisingly powerful relationship between Hibiki and his uber-ditz paramour Dita. One episode even manages, by turning the crew into love-triangle addicts, to draw uncomfortable attention to the inherent voyeurism of our own enjoyment of their relationship. Usually, though, the series is at its best when darkening romantic comedy fluff with the painful fallout of the main characters' emotional incompetence (nothing screws up a relationship like being raised to think your significant other is a different species). When combined with some gorgeous mecha mayhem, the mix can be great fun.

The show, however, wants very badly to be more than that. It longs to be about something, and in striving to, fails to play to its strengths. The angst-spiced, action-leavened romantic comedy fun ends up weighted with unwieldy existential coming-of-age gunk and long stretches of dead time during which free will and other subjects are discussed in juvenile terms cribbed from thousands of other anime. Ambitions are great if you're, say Hideaki Anno or RahXephon's fleet of brainiac screenwriters. If you're Takeshi Mori, a guy best known for bishojo behinds, not so much.

Not that I'm knocking bishojo behinds. Say what you will about the digital-happy era it was animated in, they knew how to do fan service then. Sure the mecha look like plastic toys tugged through space by invisible child's hands, and some of those hairdos are now don'ts, but for curvaceous titillation the series is hard to beat. The girls are uniformly attractive, just scantily clad enough, and animated exactly right in exactly the right places. Progressive it ain't, but it's enough to resurrect the teen boy in the hoariest of men. And if the girls don't do it, the explosions of space dust and exceedingly pretty light shows that punctuate the battles will.

Yasunori Iwasaki's score, which dabbles in goof, bombast, and sonic heartbreak with equal journeyman skill, does a fine job of distracting from the duller stretches of dogmatically clichéd philosophizing, and the wonderful dance-beat openers by Aki Kudou and Salia get the mood of the series just right, even when the series itself doesn't.

Funimation's re-release retains Geneon/Pioneer's original dub, which isn't only a financially, but also an artistically sound decision. It's a fine and faithful adaptation, marked by generally intelligent casting, minimal script alterations (mostly for lip-flap), and solid acting all around. Of course a lot of the dialogue comes across as cheesy, but you can't blame the dub for the failure of the original. After all, even brilliant thespians can't make "the real enemy was within" speeches anything but painful clichés. The two "never before released" OVAs aren't dubbed, but as they are compilation films rather than original works (though they have a smattering of interesting new scenes) no one will likely be watching them anyway.

A veritable blast when running on silly romantic complications and pure fan-service, and an irritating drag when regurgitating shonen philosophies in hopes of gilding itself in substance, Vandread is the definition of a mixed bag. Luckily it's been around long enough that most of those interested will know whether the mix trends positive or negative for them. If you don't know, you may want to give Mori's superior Stratos 4 a whirl instead.