All About Rutin

Rutin is one of those supplements you may have heard of before but might not know much about. But it’s an absolute powerhouse for your vision. Rutin is a plant-based bioflavonoid found in a number of citrus fruits. That means that it’s fairly easy to incorporate into your diet. And, rutin benefits are many, especially for your eyes.

Rutin’s primary role in visual health is to prevent retinopathy. Retinopathy is a serious condition that, as you might suspect, impacts the retina, or the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. This can cause anything from vision impairment to total blindness.

So, it’s important to understand rutin benefits for eyes and for the rest of the body. It’s also important to know the best sources of rutin. By thinking a little more about your intake of this bioflavonoid, you may be able to help your vision with the extra boost it needs to stay stronger for longer.

What Is Rutin?

Rutin is a bioflavonoid that is found in many plants and citrus fruits. You’ve probably heard of the word “bioflavonoid” before here at Rebuild Your Vision, but we should still take a moment to understand what these nutrients are.

Bioflavonoids are a group of natural compounds found in plants and fruits. Pigmentation in these fruits is actually often caused by their bioflavonoid content. You may remember us mentioning bioflavonoids in our bilberries and bioflavonoids article.

Rutin, however, is not one of the bioflavonoids found in bilberries. Instead, you need to turn to other sources to ensure you are getting enough rutin in your diet.

Antioxidants Again!

Another reason that rutin is so beneficial for your health is that it is also an antioxidant. Antioxidants are good for your health because they neutralize free radicals.

Free radicals form when a chemical structure has an intrinsically unstable electron count, a frequent effect of oxidation. The atoms, ions, or molecules with these awkward setups are highly reactive, both toward themselves and other chemicals. In some cases, these interactions catalyze a free radical chain reaction. This means they turn other substances into free radicals, which turn other substances into free radicals… you get the picture.

So what’s the problem with free radicals? Well, the tl;dr is that a free radical chain reaction can cause damage to or even kill a cell. So, increasing your antioxidant and bioflavonoid intake is extremely important to prevent free radical damage.

One of the reasons free radical damage can cause health issues like retinopathy is that it can cause irregular blood flow. If our blood isn’t flowing properly, we can develop blood clots, strokes, hemorrhages, etc. When less blood flows to the eye, it can cause retinopathy. This is where rutin comes in, as rutin is particularly good at helping to regulate blood flow.

Alternative medicine professionals often advise patients to use rutin to strengthen blood vessels. It can also help treat internal bleeding and prevent blood flow-related problems.

Rutin also has significant anti-aging and anti-inflammatory properties that improve skin elasticity and reduce wrinkle depth. All in all, it’s a great way to improve your health as you age.

Rutin Benefits for Eyes

So, it’s clear that upping your rutin intake is a good way to prevent a whole host of health issues. Let’s take some time now to learn more about how rutin benefits vision.

It makes sense that clear and sharp vision would require smooth blood flow. Because of this, rutin is a great way to protect against diabetic retinopathy and other vision issues. Retinopathy occurs when leaking blood vessels damage the retina. This often goes hand in hand with diabetes, which is why this disease is often called diabetic retinopathy. If not treated and monitored, it can lead to permanent vision loss and lots of eye pain.

If you’re curious what retinopathy patients might experience, check out this simulation image.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Eye_disease_simulation%2C_diabetic_retinopathy.jpg

The black splotches are the areas where blood vessel leakage has spread due to retinopathy. If the disease progresses, the entire image will eventually be covered by the splotches, severely impairing a person’s vision and limiting their quality of life.

But why do the blood vessels leak in the first place? Well, retinopathy patients experience weaker blood vessels in general, so much so that the blood flowing through them is too much. This causes it to leak into places where it shouldn’t be. So, those with diabetes should pay special attention to adding rutin to their diets and make regular eye exam appointments so that their doctors can effectively monitor their eyes.

Retinopathy isn’t the only disease that rutin fights against. Rutin can also treat eye diseases like subconjunctival hemorrhage. This occurs when a blood vessel right under the conjunctiva of the eye bursts. Rutin also offers potential glaucoma support. Studies show that it may also help lower intraocular eye pressure, which is the main indicator of glaucoma. Older studies suggest this combination can aid in controlling pressure in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma, but there has not been a study conducted since 2012 to confirm this.

Where Can You Find Rutin?

As we mentioned before, one of the easiest ways to up your rutin consumption is to eat more citrus. However, if that’s not your jam, rutin can also be found in natural supplements, like our Ocu-Plus Formula. But for best results, you’ll want to take some sort of supplement along with a healthy diet high in rutin.

Supplements can be tricky because you need the right dosage. You’re better off seeing your doctor for this one instead of trying to figure it out yourself. Or, you can just take our Ocu-Plus Formula, which already comes with a perfectly balanced amount of rutin along with 16 other vitamins and nutrients. It’s a great supplement for eyesight.

Foods High in Rutin

Food is still often the most bioavailable way to consume rutin, though. Here are some great options for adding it to your diet naturally.

• Buckwheat (which also makes great pancakes, yum!)
• Apples
• Oranges
• Asparagus
• Grapefruit
• Lemons and limes
• Peaches
• Mulberries

Rutin is an essential bioflavonoid used to prevent retinopathy and other blood vessel-related conditions in the eye. Without rutin, we put ourselves at risk of developing weak vessels. Don’t let yourself be quite literally blindsided by your blood vessels – give them the care they deserve!

How much rutin is in Ocu-Plus?

Each two-capsule serving of the Ocu-Plus Formula contains 50 mg of rutin. You can see it alongside the other 39 nutrients on the Ocu-Plus ingredients panel, with the full Supplement Facts label.