[tri-med] Light Sensitivity - Natural Sources of Lutein

Karen's Lutein research repost
The history - Chris felt that Mary (T-18 and 4 years old) was missing out on
greens in her diet so Chris started juicing greens to put through her
g-tube. She started in the spring (April) and about June she noticed that
Mary wasn't cringing when she took her out into the sunlight and didn't need
her sunglasses as much.

When she went to the conference in July and went to Steve Cantrell's
workshop on eyes and he spoke about the research on Lutein she laughed
because it was exactly what she had been doing and the results.

Stopping the spinach juice (which Chris did during the winter) caused the
light sensitivity to return - so apparently this needs to be continual for
best effect.

So the recipe. I am including what Chris has been doing and also some
research of my own.

Chris started with spinach and then added the other vegetables one by one
because of allergies. The vegetables that she uses are spinach and kale. She
did use collards but she said to be careful they are hard on the juicers and
actually she stopped using collards because they eventually broke her
juicer.

Now in Australia "Baby Spinach" is an expensive item (also called English
Spinach) the cheaper and more commonly used spinach here is silverbeet. I
don't know the US correlations. Kale is almost impossible to get and I am
still trying to work out what collards are!!

The spinach that she uses is baby spinach. You don't need a
lot - 1 leaf is normally enough to start with and she weaned Mary up.

She started with 1/2 ounce three times a day, increasing in 1/2 ounce
increments until she was taking 3 ounces a day. You need to juice daily as
it doesn't keep (it actually settles overnight and looks awful) and she gave
it to her just before each meal.

Now according to my research the recommended amount of Lutein in a persons
diet each day is somewhere between 6mgs and 20mgs. 6mgs of Lutein a day were
the amounts referred to in the studies that were done on macular
degeneration it seems. No studies were done on higher levels so no-one can
say if more is better. To get 6mgs of Lutein you would need to eat 58grams
of spinach or 2 salad bowls of spinach!!!!

Of course lutein is available in foods other than spinach :-) So you need to
add it all up.

Chris was juicing raw spinach but my research shows that to get the maximum
benefit from lutein the food should be cooked not raw. Apparently lutein is
locked in the cell structure of the plant and cooking releases it. I don't
know if juicing releases the lutein or not. I personally don't own a juicer
(they aren't that common here in Australia and are VERY expensive) so I am
cooking the spinach and pureeing it to put down Alex's tube.

For those children that are poor oral eaters or for those that prefer it -
Lutein is available as a dietary supplement. Try your local health food
store. It may be available either as lutein or as carotenoid. If not it is
available on the net and should not contravene any customs laws for those in
other countries.

Now - the big question - How much Lutein is in what food?
Here is a list that I have found on line
Kale   21,900 (mcg/100g)
Collard Green   16,300
Spinach (cooked)  12,600
Cress Leaf (raw)  12,500
Swiss Chard  11,000
Chicory Leaf (raw) 10,300
Mustard Greens   9,900
Beet Greens   7,700
Okra (raw)   6,800
Red Pepper   6,800
Endive    4,000
Celery    3,600
Leek (raw)   1,900
Lettus Romaine   1,900
Lettus, leaf   1,800
Broccoli    1,800
Peas, green   1,700
Pumpkin   1,500
Lettus, Iceburg   1,400
Brussel Sprouts   1,300
Squash, summer   1,200
Corn, yellow     780
Pepper, yellow     770
Green Beans     740
Squash, winter       38

*SOURCE-mcg/100g-Carotenoid Content of Fruits and Vegetables: An Evaluation
of Analytical Data. Mangles AR, et al. JADA 93:284-296 (1993)

I hope that that helps all those that wanted to try the lutein for light
sensitivity. If anyone does try it I would like to know how you go - how it
would be measured to see if it works objectively is something that I am
still thinking about........


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