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Antioxidants do not prevent degenerative eye disease
October 09, 2007Dietary antioxidants and primary prevention of age related macular degeneration: systematic review and meta-analysis BMJ Online First
A diet rich in antioxidant vitamins and minerals does not seem to prevent the degenerative eye disease known as age related macular degeneration, finds a study published on bmj.com today.
Age related macular degeneration is the leading cause of visual loss in older people. It is caused by the progressive break down of light sensitive cells in the macula, located in the centre of the retina at the back of the eye. Sufferers do not go blind, but find it virtually impossible to read, drive, or do tasks requiring fine, sharp, central vision.
Risk increases with age and smokers are thought to be more susceptible.
Antioxidants (such as vitamin C, vitamin E, various types of carotenoids, and zinc) are thought to reduce oxidative damage to the retina. But the evidence to support the role of dietary antioxidants in preventing macular degeneration remains unclear.
So researchers at the Centre for Eye Research Australia, the University of Melbourne analysed the evidence to examine the role of dietary antioxidants or dietary supplements in the primary prevention of age related macular degeneration.
They identified 11 studies (seven prospective studies and three randomised controlled trials) involving 149,203 people. A range of common dietary antioxidants were investigated and all the studies were carried out amongst well nourished Western populations with an average follow-up period of nine years.
Importantly, all the studies adjusted for age and smoking in their analyses.
The antioxidants investigated differed across studies, but when results were pooled they showed that vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, lutein, zeaxanthin, α- carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin and lycopene have little or no effect in the primary prevention of early age-related macular degeneration.
None of the three trials found antioxidant supplements to be protective in the primary prevention of early age related macular degeneration.
Despite some study limitations, the authors conclude that there is insufficient evidence to support the role of dietary antioxidants, including the use of dietary antioxidant supplements, for the primary prevention of early age-related macular degeneration.
Currently, cigarette smoking remains the only widely accepted modifiable risk factor for the primary prevention of early age-related macular degeneration, and patients seeking advice on this condition should be encouraged to quit, they add.
An accompanying editorial by Jennifer Evans at the International Centre for Eye Health supports these findings and says that reducing the prevalence of smoking is probably the most effective method of reducing the population burden of this common cause of visual loss in older people.
BMJ-British Medical Journal
Risk increases with age and smokers are thought to be more susceptible.
Antioxidants (such as vitamin C, vitamin E, various types of carotenoids, and zinc) are thought to reduce oxidative damage to the retina. But the evidence to support the role of dietary antioxidants in preventing macular degeneration remains unclear.
So researchers at the Centre for Eye Research Australia, the University of Melbourne analysed the evidence to examine the role of dietary antioxidants or dietary supplements in the primary prevention of age related macular degeneration.
They identified 11 studies (seven prospective studies and three randomised controlled trials) involving 149,203 people. A range of common dietary antioxidants were investigated and all the studies were carried out amongst well nourished Western populations with an average follow-up period of nine years.
Importantly, all the studies adjusted for age and smoking in their analyses.
The antioxidants investigated differed across studies, but when results were pooled they showed that vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, lutein, zeaxanthin, α- carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin and lycopene have little or no effect in the primary prevention of early age-related macular degeneration.
None of the three trials found antioxidant supplements to be protective in the primary prevention of early age related macular degeneration.
Despite some study limitations, the authors conclude that there is insufficient evidence to support the role of dietary antioxidants, including the use of dietary antioxidant supplements, for the primary prevention of early age-related macular degeneration.
Currently, cigarette smoking remains the only widely accepted modifiable risk factor for the primary prevention of early age-related macular degeneration, and patients seeking advice on this condition should be encouraged to quit, they add.
An accompanying editorial by Jennifer Evans at the International Centre for Eye Health supports these findings and says that reducing the prevalence of smoking is probably the most effective method of reducing the population burden of this common cause of visual loss in older people.
BMJ-British Medical Journal
Macular Degeneration Current Events and Macular Degeneration News RSSCataract surgery does not appear associated with worsening of age-related macular degeneration
Age-related macular degeneration does not appear to progress at a higher rate among individuals who have had surgery to treat cataract, contrary to previous reports that treating one cause of vision loss worsens the other.
Breeding better broccoli
Carotenoids-fat-soluble plant compounds found in some vegetables-are essential to the human diet and reportedly offer important health benefits to consumers.
Cataract surgery helps AMD patients; steroid improves DME; online eye health forum
This month's Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (Academy) reports on a national study that finds cataract surgery is likely to benefit patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) at all stages of the disease, on a clinical trial showing that the steroid triamcinolone may be effective in advanced diabetic macular edema (DME) patients when standard treatment fails, and on the public's use of two Academy-sponsored online eye health forums.
1 shot of gene therapy and children with congenital blindness can now see
Born with a retinal disease that made him legally blind, and would eventually leave him totally sightless, the nine-year-old boy used to sit in the back of the classroom, relying on the large print on an electronic screen and assisted by teacher aides.
Experimental treatments restore partial vision to blind people
Two experimental treatments, a retinal prosthesis and fetal tissue transplant, restored some vision to people with blinding eye diseases. The findings, presented at Neuroscience 2009, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news on brain science and health, may lead to new treatments for the blind.
Researchers discover mechanism that helps humans see in bright and low light
Ever wonder how your eyes adjust during a blackout? When we go from light to near total darkness, cells in the retina must quickly adjust. Vision scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified an intricate process that allows the human eye to adapt to darkness very quickly. The same process also allows the eye to function in bright light.
Cancer drug is no different in effectiveness as gold standard treatment for macular degeneration
Investigators from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the VA Boston Healthcare System have shown, at 6 months in a small group of patients, that there is no difference in efficacy between Bevacizumab (Avastin) and Ranibizumab (Lucentis) for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Designing drugs and their antidotes together improves patient care
Imagine a surgical patient on a blood-thinning drug who starts bleeding more than expected, and an antidote that works immediately - because the blood thinner and antidote were designed to work together.
World's most sensitive astronomical camera developed at the Universite de Montreal
A team of Université de Montréal researchers, led by physics PhD student Olivier Daigle, has developed the world's most sensitive astronomical camera.
MIT retinal implant could help restore some vision
MIT engineers have designed a retinal implant for people who have lost their vision from retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration, two of the leading causes of blindness.
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