What Supplements Do You Recommend for Your Eyes in Your 40s and 50s?

Hey, J.J. here. Can you believe how fast the holidays are knocking at the door this year? One minute it's pumpkin spice season, the next you're getting your guest room ready and wondering where their wrapping paper went. And that's when I turned to Wayfair. From bedding and towels to holiday decor and last minute stocking stuffers, Wayfair has everything you need to get your home and holidays together fast. And for way less. With Wayfair, I know I can refresh my guest room in no time. Maybe I'll add a soft new comforter or a few holiday throw pillows. With Wayfair, it's so easy and everything arrives super fast. Plus, there's free shipping for any order over $35 easy and total peace of mind. So whether you're hosting, gifting, or just adding those final festive touches, Wayfair has your back. And when the holidays wind down, Wayfair has everything you need to tuck it all neatly away. Smart storage solutions for every room from the kitchen to the closet. Get organized, refreshed and ready for the holidays. For way less head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair Every style, every home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I R.com hey, it's JJ here. You know, I've been talking about environmental toxins forever, and laundry detergent is a sneaky one. A lot of them contain harsh chemicals like dyes, preservatives, and even UV brighteners. Those brighteners don't actually clean anything. They just coat fabric so your eyes think things look whiter or brighter. That's more chemicals I don't want on my family's sheets or skin. And if you've got sensitive skin or allergies around the house, this can be a big problem. That's what got my attention about Earth Breeze. It looks like a dryer sheet, but it's actually laundry detergent. You toss one in the washer and that's it. No pouring, no mess, and no heavy plastic jug. Their packaging is lightweight cardboard, which helps reduce plastic waste. And if you choose the fragrance free option, it's gentle, hypoallergenic, non irritating and non sensitizing. I really like how simple it is and how fresh and clean everything comes out without those unnecessary chemicals. Right now you can try Earth Breeze for up to 40% off with free gifts@earthbreeze.com virgin that's earthbreeze.com virgin for up to 40% off plus free gifts on.

Your first order this episode is brought to you by Buffalo Trace Distillery. Powerful yet smooth. Contained but never tame. Proudly going their own way but never going alone. This is the spirit inside Buffalo Trace Bourbon made at Buffalo Trace Distillery, the world's most award winning distillery. Buffalo Trace is also always perfectly untamed. Distilled, aged and bottled by Buffalo Trace distillery, Franklin County, Kentucky. 90 proof 45% alcohol by volume. Learn more at buffalotracedistillery.com Please drink responsibly.

What supplements do you recommend for your eyes in your 40s and 50s? This is JJ Virgin, four time New York Times bestselling author, celebrity nutrition expert and Fitness hall of Famer. I've been on a lifelong quest for answers to the toughest health question and now I'm sharing what I found with you. Welcome to Ask the health expert. Dee Dee430 from Instagram asks, what supplements do you recommend for your eyes in your 40s and 50s? Hey, it's JJ and you know how much I love supplements, but I wanted to go right to the expert for this one. And that's Dr. Ronnie Bonick. She's a board certified neuro ophthalmologist and associate professor at Master Mount Sinai in New York City. And when she's not out helping improve.

Our vision, you can find her on.

The dance floor doing everything from salsa to classical Indian dance, or off the beaten path exploring far off places like Rwanda or Namibia. And today she's here with us. And we'll be right back with the answer.

Hey, it's JJ here. Now let's be honest. The holidays are basically a financial ambush. Travel, hosting gifts, surprise holiday school things. Suddenly you're wondering how December turned into a spending spree. If you want to keep your finances under control this holiday season, you need to be using Monarch. It's rated the Wall Street Journal's best budgeting app of 2025. Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean interface on your laptop or your phone. What really grabbed my attention is how fast those little holiday expenses pile up with Monarch. Seeing everything in one place makes it a lot harder to accidentally overspend. And honestly, I appreciate anything that keeps me from starting January with a money hangover. You'll love exploring the holiday spending category. Imagine how good it will feel to actually see what's happening before your credit card statement does that whole dramatic reveal thing. Monarch basically shows you exactly where the money is going in real time, and that level of clarity could change everything, right? Don't let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use the code virgin@monarch.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year@monarch.com with code Virgin.

Ray Ban Meta glasses come with open ear audio so you can listen to your favorite music without blocking out the world around you.

Hey Meta, play Gorgeous.

Here's Gorgeous by Doja Cat.

You can also ask Meta AI questions.

Hey Meta, when's Doja Cat's next concert?

Doja Cat is playing at the Los Angeles Theater next Tuesday.

Sweet Ray Ban Meta glasses available at Ray Ban stores and other authorized retailers.

So I would really like to thank you for bringing up this question because it is a question so so many people have what can I do proactively to prevent vision loss to protect my eyes long term? And I have to say that there are many studies that show that if we have the proper diet, proper lifestyle and proper supplements in our diet that we can ward off some of these vision threatening conditions. For example cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration. These four conditions are the number four potentially blinding conditions, not only in the US but in the world. And all of these, all four of these can be prevented with proper diet, lifestyle and supplementation. So what are the things that you need to protect against these four potentially blinding conditions? Well, as I mentioned before, having a plant rich diet that's full of antioxidants. So I'm not saying go plant based. You don't have to necessarily be vegan or vegetarian, but have a plant rich diet that gives you all the colors of the rainbow, that gives you all of those great phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that your eyes need to stay healthy. And a quick tip that I have is most of us have three meals a day, so seven days a week. That's 21 meals in a week. And what I would say is if you're having a plant rich diet, try to include a different color with every meal. So basically you will get 21 different colors within the course of the week. So have your various shades of green, red, yellow, orange, blue, purple, even black. Having all of those colors from vegetables and fruits will give you those antioxidants that your eyes need to stay healthy. Now I had mentioned specifically before about the lutein zeaxanthin. Try to include those green leafy vegetables and yellow and orange vegetables in your diet. Now the sad thing is that even though we can have a diet that's very plant rich, Specifically for lutein and zeaxanthin. Oftentimes it's hard to get enough of those in our diet alone. So the recommended amount of lutein is about 6 to 20 milligrams a day. That's the estimated amount that we need to keep our eyes healthy. And unfortunately, many people who are on a standard western diet probably only get 1-2mg of lutein in their diet. So that's significantly less than the recommended amount of 6 to 20 milligrams. For zeaxanthin, the recommended amount is anywhere between 2 to 4 milligrams a day. And most of us unfortunately are probably getting less than 1 milligram a day. So this is where supplementation really, really comes into the picture. And so there are many eye health supplements on the market. I actually did a lot of research in these eye health supplements because I am about to publish a book on macular degeneration called the Macular Degeneration Prevention Protocol. So I have a chapter on eye health supplements and what should they contain. So each of the supplements that's on the market will have a different formulation, different doses. It's really, really hard to know which one is best. But what I would say is in order to get the lutein, zeaxanthin and meso zeaxanthin, look for those three pigments that are on the label. Make sure that they are on the label. A quick and simple way to do this is to simply look for an ingredient called Lutemax 2020. And it's actually an ingredient that's in many of the different supplements on the market. It's used by many manufacturers and it provides you with those three pigments in the right ratio that's naturally present in our eyes. So there's a 5 to 1 ratio that's normally in our eyes of these pigments. And GlutaMax 2020 already provides you with that. And the other thing I like about GlutaMax 2020 is that actually has a lot of research behind it. Of all of the different formulations on the market, this particular one, again, Lutemax 2020 has been proven in studies to actually increase the pigments in the back of your eyes, increases blue light protection, protects against digital eye strain. So if you're looking for a science backed supplement, make sure it has that ingredient in it. Now the other things you may want to look for as well in a good eye health supplement are vitamin the other antioxidants I had mentioned before, so vitamins A, C and E. Also there are some important minerals you should look for. So copper and zinc are very important as well as magnesium and manganese for eye health. And you also if you're looking for an eye health supplement, you may want to look for other antioxidants like glutathione. N acetylcysteine are also great as well. And I could keep going on and on, but I do want to mention one more thing about eye health supplements. In my research I was not able to find a single supplement that had everything that you need. You also need those omega 3s I mentioned before for dry eye. Omega 3s are really, really important for dry eye prevention as well as prevention of macular degeneration. So make sure if you're taking eye health supplement that you may have to take the supplement that has all the antioxidants and the lutein, zeaxanthin, mesaxanthin. But unfortunately most of those don't also have the Omega 3. So you may have to take two supplements to help protect your eyes. The eye health supplement plus a separate omega 3 supplement.

This is JJ with Ask the Health Expert. I do this five times a week, so make sure you never miss a show by going to subscribetojay.com.

Foreign. Hello listeners, this is Anne Bogle, author, blogger, and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week I tag all things books and reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately, and I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading Next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment, whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change, or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything. You'll learn something about yourself as a reader and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and visit our website what Should I read next podcast.com to find out more.