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Vitamin E, Antioxidant, Zinc Combination Useful for Aging Eyes
Washington
DC, 12 March 2002
The
role of Vitamin E and other antioxidants in helping fight off age-related
macular degeneration "may have tipped the balance" in providing
convincing evidence of the health effects of vitamin supplements,
according to Dr. Thomas H. Lee, editor in chief of the Harvard
Health Letter.
"Until
recently, the evidence that supplements would do any good just wasn't
very convincing," he said. "But results from a large and persuasive
study by the National Eye Institute . . . may have tipped
the balance."
Nutrient
combination inhibits progression of age-related macular degeneration
The
National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH), recently found that a combination of antioxidants and zinc
reduced the odds that people with moderate age-related macular degeneration,
an eye disease affecting vision, would progress to an advanced condition.
Daily doses, including Vitamin E supplements of 400 international
units, were used in a six-year test of patients.
Many
people these days are asking about treatment for age-related macular
degeneration, or ADM, Dr. Lee writes in the Harvard Health Letter
-- "perhaps women especially, because they're twice as likely to
develop the condition as men."
In
the National Eye Institute study, researchers divided patients into
four groups and followed them on average for more than six years.
At the end of the study, the group that took a combination of antioxidants,
including Vitamin E, with zinc had the lowest risk -- 20 percent
-- of progressing to a more advanced stage of macular degeneration.
Zinc
plus antioxidants provide most significant benefits
"It
was only the zinc-antioxidant combination that met the statistical
test for reducing the odds of people developing advanced AMD," Dr.
Lee said. "Overall, the results did show some modest benefits from
taking just the zinc or just antioxidants. But it was really the
combination that made the difference."
"These
good results for macular degeneration were a pleasant surprise"
in the continuing research on the health role of antioxidants, Dr.
Lee said. "The data suggest that for people with macular degeneration,
antioxidant and zinc supplementation might help keep it from getting
worse."
Source
Foods
for the Future, via PR Newswire, 12 Mar 2002.
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