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Antioxidant Vitamins and Zinc Reduce Risk of AMD |
Antioxidant Vitamins and Zinc Reduce Risk of Vision
Loss from Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Relevant excerpts from:
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, National Eye
Institute
NIH News Release, October 12, 2001
Source:
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/oct2001/nei-12.htm
Antioxidant Vitamins and Zinc Reduce Risk of Vision
Loss from Age-Related Macular Degeneration
High levels of antioxidants and zinc
significantly reduce the risk of advanced age-related
macular degeneration (AMD) and its associated vision
loss.
Scientists found that people at high risk of developing
advanced stages of AMD, a leading cause of vision loss,
lowered their risk by about 25 percent
when treated with a high-dose combination of vitamin C,
vitamin E, beta-carotene, and zinc. In the same high
risk group - which includes people with intermediate
AMD, or advanced AMD in one eye but not the other eye -
the nutrients reduced the risk of vision loss caused by
advanced AMD by about 19 percent. For those study
participants who had either no AMD or early AMD, the
nutrients did not provide an apparent benefit. The
clinical trial - called the Age-Related Eye Disease
Study (AREDS) - was sponsored by the National Eye
Institute (NEI), one of the Federal government's
National Institutes of Health.
"This is an exciting discovery because, for people at
high risk for developing advanced AMD, these
nutrients are the first effective treatment to slow the
progression of the disease," said Paul A.
Sieving, M.D., Ph.D., director of the NEI. "AMD is a
leading cause of visual impairment and blindness in
Americans 65 years of age and older. Currently,
treatment for advanced AMD is quite limited.
These nutrients will delay the progression to advanced
AMD in people who are at high risk - those with
intermediate AMD in one or both eyes, or those with
advanced AMD in one eye already.
"Previous studies have suggested that people who have
diets rich in green, leafy vegetables have a lower risk
of developing AMD," said Frederick Ferris, MD, director
of clinical research at the NEI and chairman of the
AREDS. "However, the high levels of nutrients
that were evaluated in the AREDS are very
difficult to achieve from diet alone.
"Almost two-thirds of AREDS participants chose to take a
daily multivitamin in addition to their assigned study
treatment," Dr. Ferris said. "The AREDS also showed
that, even with a daily multivitamin, people at high
risk for developing advanced AMD can lower the risk of
vision loss by adding a formulation with the same high
levels of antioxidants and zinc used in the study."
Those taking "antioxidants plus zinc" had the
lowest risk of developing advanced stages of
AMD and its accompanying visual loss.
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