Reduce Sour and Sweet Foods to Prevent Myopia
Research indicates that myopia development is directly related to diet; frequent consumption of sour and sweet foods is one cause of myopia.
Scientific studies show that children's eyes are still developing, with high extensibility of the eyeball wall. The sclera is firm and elastic. However, calcium deficiency weakens the sclera, allowing prolonged mechanical pressure from extraocular muscles to stretch the wall gradually, transforming the spherical shape into an oval one. This elongates the distance between cornea and lens to retina, preventing image formation on the retina, thus causing myopia.
Excessive intake of acidic foods or sugar increases acid production in blood, impairing calcium absorption, weakening scleral elasticity, and failing to maintain normal intraocular pressure—thus promoting myopia progression. Moreover, sugar metabolism requires substantial vitamin B1. Excess sugar intake depletes vitamin B1, whose deficiency affects optic nerve development and leads to vision decline.
Therefore, to prevent myopia, parents should ensure balanced diets for children, providing all necessary nutrients for eye growth and function. For myopic children, dietary therapy can help—limit sour and sweet foods, encourage consumption of spleen-strengthening and blood-nourishing foods like longan flesh, yam, carrot, sweet potato, taro, spinach, millet, corn, and also mulberry, black beans, red dates, walnut kernels, which nourish the heart, calm the spirit, and improve vision. Also supplement foods rich in zinc—soybeans, almonds, purple laver, seaweed, lamb, mackerel, milk powder—and chromium-rich foods—beef, grains, meats, liver.