so are you getting enough lootin probably not and I know this because of one published science and statistics and two EMP testing EMP pod testing is a common eye test we have here in the eye clinic and helps us measure what is called macular pigment optical density or EMP pod and I can tell you that indeed most people do end up failing this part of the eye test and unfortunately if you do score poorly on it it means that your precious eyes could be at High risk of age related health problems and decreased visual performance
but you may be wondering what does this empad test have to do with how much lutein I'm getting so in today's video I'm going to break down how lutein can improve your scores on an Ood test and what this means for your eye Health now this may be the first time that you've ever heard of Lutine or this meod testing but in reality both eye doctors and researchers have known about the benefits of Lutine for the eyes for a long long time now and that's why this video I've partnered with Omni Active Health Technologies in
their consumer awareness campaign called Lutine for every age to help really highlight the benefits of Lutine for health especially when it pertains to the eyes okay so what does lutein do inside of the eye well this lutein along with this other carotenoid pigment called zanthin when digested these travel to the eye and deposit in an area of the eye called the macula and I like to refer to the macula as sort of the bullseye in back of the eye because this is the area that gives you your most precise Vision your ability to read recognize
faces and see colors and this ltin along with these two forms of zanthin there's an isomer called the RR zanthin and another one called RS or miso zanthin these are found in extremely high quantities in this area of the eye in fact it's really cool that in Mother Nature there's over 600 different carotenoid pigments and only these few are found specifically in the eye and at a concentration over a thousand times greater than what's found just in your bloodstream and this is huge for Eye Health because these pigments essentially work as Mother Nature's Own natural
filter against high energy light and considering that lutein is sort of this yellow orange color they are especially effective at filtering and protecting against Blue Light and not only do they help filter harsh light from affecting the eye but also plays a major role in reducing oxidative stress which is a huge player when it comes to aging of the eye including that of cataract formation in fact lutein is the only carotenoid pigment that's been found to reduce the risk of cataracts okay so now that we know what this lotin does inside of the eye where
does this EMP pod test come in again M pod stands for ular pigment optical density and it's basically a test that we perform to help measure the density of this Lutine and these different isomers of zanthin depositing inside the macula of the eye and thankfully is a test that's widely available so don't be afraid to ask your local eye doctor if they have empot available at your next eye exam okay so what happens if you get a bad score on the aod test let's say you came into the clinic we ran this test on you
and like many people your scores were pretty low well unfortunately lower EMP pod scores are associated with a poorer health status of the retina in the back of the eye and are frequently seen in people who go on to develop age related macular degeneration whereas people with higher EMP pod scores are often associated with having higher visual function including correlations with improved contrast sensitivity decreased glare disability as well as decreased problems with photo stress recovery so here in the eye clinic if you did score low on nemp pod test usually your doctor will first talk
about eating more lutein rich foods and secondly they're probably going to recommend taking a lutein supplement because research has shown that we can increase this macular pigment density just by taking supplementation unfortunately while eating more lutein rich foods is often recommended we know this often does not result in significant EMP pod changes as a 2021 research metaanalysis did show that through dietary changes alone we only saw up to about a 5 mgram change in serum Lutine so while I personally still do advocate for people to eat more ltin rich foods we know that it just
doesn't result in significant EMP pod changes if at all now again despite this information I personally do recommend people focus on eating whole healthy ltin rich foods first and that's because we know these types of foods have other health benefits for the body but also most people don't even get the minimum recommended amounts of vegetables in their diets to begin with but it is pretty clear that in the research supplementation with lutee does result in better EMP pod scores and improvements in eye benefits with studies showing about a 30% increase in pod scores after taking
about 10 to 20 Mig of lutee over the course of 3 to 6 months all right so after learning all of this what if you want to improve your Ood scores how do you do that well to learn more I suggest checking out my previous video where we went over not just how Lutine affects Vision specifically but we also went over diet and how to find a good supplement and I'll suggest checking that out I'll put a link over here to the side otherwise I do want to say thank you for watching and for Omni
active for supporting ing us and including us in their consumer awareness initiative otherwise again thank you so much keep an eye on it and we'll see you in that next video
