Cataracts are a condition that affects many Americans each year and can be caused by several factors, from hereditary to environmentally-caused. Here are three ways you can prevent, reduce, and treat for cataracts in your eyes.

Keep a Healthy Lifestyle

A majority of cataracts develop because of your age, with your risks for cataracts increasing after the age of 40. But there are changes you can make in your life at any age to help reduce your chances of developing cataracts.

If you are a smoker or drink alcohol, reducing and eliminating these from your life will greatly reduce your chance of getting cataracts in your eyes. The chemicals and damage related to smoking and in alcohol can cause the damage to your eye's lens that can lead to cataracts.

Watch your exposure to the sun's rays in your life, even when you are young, as exposure to the UVB rays can increase your risk for cataract development. Control your weight, as obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes and a risk for cataracts.

Eat a Healthy Diet

The foods you eat and their vitamins and minerals can also reduce your chances for cataracts. Increase your consumption of greens like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, spinach, and asparagus, and foods containing glutathione and antioxidants, such as strawberries, grapefruit, and avocados.

Foods containing lutein and zeaxanthin can also help your vision and prevent cataracts. These natural compounds contain carotenoids, which are also found in your eye lenses and can help strengthen the components of your lens' when you add them into your diet. Carotenoids help by filtering out high energy blue wavelengths present in sunlight from reaching and damaging the cells in your eyes. Such foods include eggs, corn, spinach, kale, and collard greens.

You can also increase your intake of foods rich in zinc, omega 3s, vitamins A, C, and E. Adding the supplement Bilberry to your diet can also help boost your eye's protection against harmful radiation.

Opt for Surgery

If you are experiencing cataracts in your eyes, you will most likely want to receive a recommended surgery to remove the cataracts from your eyes, which will restore your vision. Cataract surgery by a trained ophthalmologist only takes an hour or so and is an out-patient procedure today, so you will be able to go home once it is completed.

In addition to removing the cataract on your lens, the surgery will replace your lens with a new lens, which also corrects any near or farsightedness in your vision so you won't have to wear corrective lenses. After cataract surgery, you will have perfect or near-perfection vision without having to worry about cataracts affecting your vision. Contact a clinic, like Idaho Eye and Laser center, for more help.