Living a healthy lifestyle starts with eating nutritious foods. What you eat, can have a dramatic effect on your health. Eating healthy can improve your blood pressure, lower your cholesterol, reduce your chances of having a stroke, reduce your risks of heart disease, etc... A lesser known fact though, is that eating healthy can also protect your vision.

A recent study sampled data from 102,046 people that, at the start of the study, were 50 years of age or older and did not have age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In a 25-year span, 2,479 of the participants in the study developed symptoms of AMD—50 percent of those were considered to be advanced cases. Those in the sample group that ate vegetables and fruits high in carotenoids were the least likely to develop advanced AMD. In fact, those who regularly consumed foods rich in zeaxanthin and lutein showed it lowered their risk of developing AMD by 40 percent compared to those who did not.

People who ate oranges on a weekly basis had their risk of developing advanced AMD decrease by 27 percent compared to those who rarely eat oranges, while those who eat two or more servings of tomato sauce a week lowered their risk of AMD by 40 percent.

Those who are 60 years of age and older are most susceptible to AMD. Currently, 2 million senior citizens in America alone are affected by AMD and that number is expected to more than double in the next 15 years. Practicing a healthy diet can reduce your risks of becoming a part of this statistic.