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Some foods are well known for assisting healthy eyes, such as carrots.
However, a new study from Baylor College of Medicine and Tufts University has discovered that beta-carotene in golden rice can also be beneficial.
Developed in the 1990s as a rice containing vitamin A, golden rice contains 35 micrograms of beta-carotene per gram.
Dr Michal Grusak, an associate professor of paediatrics at the USDA/ARS
Children's Nutrition Center, said: "We found that four units of beta-carotene from golden rice convert to one unit of vitamin A in humans."
Vitamin A is linked to eye health, with inadequate amounts leading to vision problems and even blindness.
A deficiency in the vitamin is prevalent in many parts of the world where poorer community members rely on rice as a major source of food.
Dr Grusak added: "By incorporating vitamin A into the major crop that is consumed, we should be able to make it accessible to the majority of people in the area."
It is hoped that further research will soon make golden rice commercially available, leading to healthier eyes where deficiency prevalence of vitamin A is high.
