For generations children have been told that eating carrots will help them see in the dark. Spinach, thanks to Popeye, makes them strong and green cabbage "will put hairs on your chest." Not the best thing to say to an eight-year-old girl sulkily pushing vegetables around her plate, perhaps, but it tends to work on little boys.

The message from Bradford optometrist Victoria Gore is simple. "Eat your greens," she says. "And reduce to risk of losing your central vision."

Victoria recently gave her customers and other members of the public free samples of vegetables in a bid to improve their eyesight. The stunt was part of an open day held at her Queensbury opticians practice to highlight the link between diet and Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of blindness in the UK.

"We gave out vegetables to raise awareness of the link between nutrition and eyesight," says Victoria. "People were surprised that food plays such an important role in eye-care. It's become a bit of an old wives' tale that eating carrots helps our eyesight but it has been proven that green vegetables help reduce the risk of us developing this eye disease.

"The best things we can eat to try and prevent AMD are leafy green vegetables such as spinach, peppers, avocado and kale which contain lutein and zeaxanthin; nutrients that help maintain the antioxidant levels needed to keep our eyes healthy. Fruits such as bilberries help too."

An estimated 600,000 people in Britain are affected by Age-related Macular Degeneration. It occurs as a result of damage to the delicate cells of the macula, the part of the retina responsible for the central vision required for doing everyday tasks such as reading or driving.

"It's the loss of detailed vision, it mainly affects people over the age of 60 and women appear to be at greater risk than men," says Victoria. "The symptoms are distortion; a straight line can look fuzzy for example, and shadowy areas may appear in your central vision. Glasses won't make a difference because it's the back of the eye that's deteriorating.

"But it's never too late to change your eating habits - even if you have the disease a better diet could stop it from getting worse."

Victoria says there are two types of AMD; dry and wet. Dry, or atrophic, AMD is the most common form, affecting about 90 per cent of AMD sufferers. It develops gradually over years as small yellow deposits building up under the macula.

Wet, or exudative, AMD is a more aggressive and rapidly-developing form of the condition caused by the growth of new blood vessels under the retina which can bleed. It can have a devastating effect on eyesight, sometimes resulting in a loss of central vision in just days.

"You can literally wake up with it, it's a very sudden change," says Victoria. "But most people suffer from dry AMD and various treatments, including laser treatment, can prevent it from progressing.

"A well-balanced diet containing eye-friendly vitamins and nutrients can slow the progression of AMD and even delay the onset of the condition."

As well as vegetables containing antioxidant-maintaining nutrients - which protect the eye by preventing the build up of oxidative damage in the retinal cells - cold water fish such as sardines, mackerel and tuna are all good sources of Omega-3 which provides structural support to cell membranes in the eye.

Early diagnosis is key to managing AMD but Victoria says we don't tend to go for eye tests as often as we should. Leaving your eyes unchecked can lead to a range of health problems - not all eye-related - from diabetes to high blood pressure.

"I can detect all sorts of problems from checking eyes," says Victoria. "People should have eye tests every two years, unless they have diabetes or glaucoma in which case they should have one a year.

"People don't think about getting their eyes tested unless they already wear glasses or develop an eyesight problem. Some people leave it 10 or 15 years without an eye test, but our eyes change over the years. People over 40 or 45 may find they need glasses for reading, even if their eyesight has been fine before.

"Children should have regular eye checks," she adds. "When a child's eyes are still growing they change quickly, sometimes eye problems among children are picked up in school but unless they have specific problems many children's eyesight remains unchecked. Eye tests are free for under 16-year-olds."

While for many people it may be a case of not getting round to booking an eye test, for others it's the fear.

"Some people get worried about it but it's a straightforward procedure and I put people at ease," says Victoria. "I work out their prescription from a series of eye tests, and test for glaucoma by checking eye pressure and peripheral or field vision."

Victoria says that, despite the advancement of contact lenses, glasses are more fashionable than ever, largely thanks to spectacle-wearing stars like Anastacia, David Tenant, Kimberley Stewart and Daniel Radcliffe.

"There's a huge range of glasses around," says Victoria. "Sometimes young girls are upset when I tell them they don't need glasses! For older people, wearing glasses for the first time is an admission that they're getting older, but once they've found frames to suit them most people are okay with it."

Victoria has always worn glasses and her interest in optometry stemmed from childhood.

"I was a regular visitor to the opticians and was fascinated by all the gadgets they used," she says. "After that it was all I ever wanted to do."

  • For more information about how to prevent AMD ring Victoria Gore Optometrist on (01274) 815861 or visit www.victoriagore.co.uk.

Other useful websites include www.eyecare.org.uk and www.rnib.org.uk