Lutein levels in the eye linked to higher achievement in children

Two recent studies demonstrated that children who do better in school have higher lutein levels in the eye.

Even after taking in consideration other factors including IQ, gender, body composition and physical fitness, children that had higher lutein levels did better on cognition tests and performed better academically. In the first study, researchers measured lutein levels in the eyes of 49 children between the ages of 8 and 10 and recorded the children's brain activity using EEG while the children were performing a challenging cognitive task. The children who had higher lutein levels had a lower spike in brain activity and tended to perform better on the cognitive test. A second study involving 8 and 9 year olds found that children with higher lutein levels did better on standardized academic tests. Lutein's benefits have been known for a long time with it's protective abilities being the top on the list. Lutein can help protect both the eyes and the brain from free radicals and it can be found in leafy vegetables, egg yolks and fortified foods. VisiVite RBI Vision Performance contains 20 mg daily lutein and 4 mg daily zeaxanthin.*