Vitamin E, Antioxidant, Zinc Combination Useful for Aging Eyes

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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.

http://www.supplementquality.com/efficacy/vitEzinc_macdegen_0203.html