A great eye-dea. There is something absolutely awe-inspiring about the views you see from our Salty’s locations. We like to say that we not only serve seafood but also “seefood.” What a treat it is to take in the beautiful sunsets, city skyline, mountain ranges, ferries, shipping activity, sea lions, eagles, fishermen and sports enthusiasts. Yes, the ability to see is something very precious, never to be taken for granted. Loss of vision on the other hand is one of most people’s greatest fears. Protecting our vision then should be a lifetime goal. Wearing your sunglasses while you are sipping a tall one on the deck at Salty’s is a very good start, but there is something more you should do when you visit us. Eat your”seefood.”

Seafood contains some absolutely essential nutrients for ocular health, and we have a bounty of varieties to choose from. Fish and shellfish contain Omega-3 fatty acids (aka n-3 fatty acids) containing the very vital DHA nutrient as our focus. DHA is short for docosahexanenoic acid, thank you very much. I’m not going to even try to pronounce it. But critically significant it is. So let’s just commit that very long important word to our photographic memory! (Sigh!)

We can’t make this nutrient ourselves so we have to consume it. It is so important, they even put DHA in baby formula. Just because we grow up doesn’t mean we can stop babying our eyes. Choosing to eat a delicious meal of fish is the essential thing to do. Many eye diseases are actually progressive, meaning they take time to develop so a lifetime of good fish choices is a good idea.

DHA plays a protective role inside your eye. Over time it works hard to actively defend the retina, rods, cones and lens from oxidative stress. Again the antioxidants in our food come to the rescue. If you make a lifetime habit of consuming fish, you can help prevent ocular degeneration. Forgivingly, if you begin the habit of eating fish later in life, eye health has been shown to improve in short order.

Macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataracts are all examples of vision-stealing diseases. These disease states have been shown to be consistent with low blood levels of DHA. When the eye experiences oxidative stress, DHA comes to the rescue, helping support cellular membrane integrity.

So let’s keep a close watch on our intake of seafood and seek out this vital nutrient. You can look upon fish and shellfish as the best eye-dea for good visual health.