The simple answer: a profound “Yes”. Vision is commonly regarded as the most valuable of the five senses and nutrition does in fact play a role in the overall health of the eye. Vision impairment is a very common epidemic, globally speaking, and in developing countries nutritional deficiencies and cataracts continue to be the leading causes in blindness. In terms of developed countries, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataracts are the leading causes of blindness.
The percentage of the population that suffers with eye disease continues to increase especially with advancing age, as the lens loses elasticity over time due to the exposure of UV rays over time, for example. It is crucial to note that although we have a greater understanding of nutrition and the importance of vitamin supplements, this valuable information may not be getting to those who are at the greatest risk- individuals in developing countries. What if I said that antioxidant supplementation could help reduce the odds of developing advanced AMD? Would you make sure that your family and loved ones get enough of these antioxidants, so they do not have to worry about vision problems? Recent studies have addressed the concept of nutrition in the treatment of eye disease including promising results of a randomized control trial of oral zinc supplementation in macular degeneration.
It is important to note that global blindness is an epidemic, as the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide. The Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) has been a long-term study designed to evaluate risk factors, clinical course, and prognosis of cataracts and AMD. These treatments consist of pharmacologic doses of vitamins and minerals chosen based on the recommendations of expert biochemists, nutritionists, as well as ophthalmologists. These trials have called for new trials, known as AREDS2, in order to further investigate how these supplements are impacting eye related disease and how they can introduce potential methods of prevention. The purpose of AREDS was to understand the effect of high-dose antioxidant supplementation in decreasing the rate of progression of AMD and other associated vision loss.
It is important to note that global blindness is an epidemic, as the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide. The Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) has been a long-term study designed to evaluate risk factors, clinical course, and prognosis of cataracts and AMD. These treatments consist of pharmacologic doses of vitamins and minerals chosen based on the recommendations of expert biochemists, nutritionists, as well as ophthalmologists. These trials have called for new trials, known as AREDS2, in order to further investigate how these supplements are impacting eye related disease and how they can introduce potential methods of prevention. The purpose of AREDS was to understand the effect of high-dose antioxidant supplementation in decreasing the rate of progression of AMD and other associated vision loss.
This experiment was a double-blind placebo-controlled trial which included over 3600 individuals from 11 retinal subspecialty clinics where participants aged between 55 and 80 years old. All members of this study were required to have baseline visual acuity of 20/32 or better in one eye. Furthermore, the groups were randomized to 4 treatment groups which included: a high dose, antioxidant Vitamin combination (Vitamins C and E and beta-carotene), the antioxidant vitamin combination with zinc supplementation, zinc supplementation alone, or placebo. It is important to note that average follow up duration for these members of the study was 6.3 years. Additionally, the variables that this study focused on included advanced AMD and a 15-letter or more decrease in visual acuity. The results revealed a lot about nutrition and the components necessary for maintaining good eye health.
It was very interesting to see that there was a statistically significant reduction in the odds of developing advanced AMD in patients who received antioxidant vitamin supplementation with the zinc as opposed to the placebo. The other two categories, zinc alone and antioxidants with vitamins alone, did not reveal statistical significance which demonstrates that this combination of zinc and antioxidant vitamin supplementation is correlated to some degree with overall eye health. Although, it should be noted that there are some limitations with this study such as how the researchers measured AMD as clinical examination was not used. Only fundus photography was employed, and this technique is an advanced digital retinal photograph. By taking a digital fundus photo image of the back portion of the eye (the retina), the doctor can detect and monitor ocular health. Additively, many patients were already taking nutritional supplements at the time of the study enrollment, and in order to try to standardize the participants a daily dose of a common multivitamin was provided (i.e. Centrum) and this may have impacted some of the results.
AREDS found a statistically significant reduction in the odds of developing advanced AMD in patients receiving antioxidants plus zinc compared to the other variables. Typically Americans don’t get enough of the recommended doses of nutrients suggested by the AREDS study; thus increasing foods rich in these vitamins and nutrients can potentially protect one against AMD. Experiments like this are important to conduct because they reveal how important vitamins and nutrients are to our overall health. A better understanding of nutrition means better care for individuals suffering from eye degenerative diseases and AMD, especially in countries in lower economic standings and that is crucial for our future generations to understand and become aware of.
Works Cited
Mccusker,
Meagen M., Khayyam Durrani, Michael J. Payette, and Jeanine Suchecki. "An
Eye on Nutrition: The Role of Vitamins, Essential Fatty Acids, and Antioxidants
in Age-related Macular Degeneration, Dry Eye Syndrome, and Cataract."
Clinics in Dermatology 34.2 (2016): 276-85. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.
This was a very interesting read, Mush. I am wondering if the combination of the antioxidant vitamins and zinc is similar to the synergy Dr. Li discussed with his angiogenic foods. While this is not preventing cancer.it is reducing the development of age related eye issues, which is important. I thought it was interesting that it was the combination with zinc. I wonder if it is related to zinc's role in wound healing for the lenses.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help but think the same thing. Why is Zinc so special? While reading your article I was sure the antioxidant- vitamin combination would work better, if not show around the same results as the antioxidant-vitamin with the zinc supplementation combination. The reason I thought this was because of the Beta-carotene. When it comes to eye health I always believed this derivative of Vitamin A to be the most important, since it's found in carrots, which is a food source that has always been linked to good eyesight. Very interesting article.
DeleteI have also read articles supporting your blog. For my Friday series presentation on Kale, I found a good research article that supported kale in reducing the progression of AMD. Along with both Jenn's above, I wonder what the significance of Zinc is in working with the antioxidant to prevent AMD. Overall eye health is very important and knowledge of antioxidant aiding eye health and preventing AMD, which is incurable, makes me want to consume antioxidant rich foods!
ReplyDeleteI think it is safe to say that food does impact our physical as well as psychological health now that so many different studies have been done on this. It is great that we are researching these topics more and more. It is unfortunate, however, that it is so easy to go wrong with the foods we eat nowadays. I am always careful when it comes to my eyes, and a disease related to my vision would be something I would really despise. It is very important for us to keep track of our vision and the foods we eat if they have a potential to affect it. I think your article is very interesting and I hope we can come up with more research regarding the relation between foods we eat and the impact they have on our vision.
ReplyDeleteIt is remarkable how important our nutrition is to our physical well being. I thought that this blog did a really good job of showing how important our nutrition is to our health. The fact that simple supplements such as antioxidants, and zinc, which are both things that we can get from our food, played such a crucial role in preventing AMD. After watching the tedtalk in class about how changing your diet can possibly decrease your risk of cancer, it makes me wonder how related our diets are to our physical health. Your article was another good example of how food can change your risks for health related disorders.
ReplyDeleteI think the eye is a very unique organ to look at and it not emphasize as much as some of the other organs. I notice with many of my patients that they have eye problems and they always tell me that they listen to their mother and at their carrots. However, I think it's much more then just eating one food. People fail to keep track of their vision and to take care of their eyes as they become elderly. I know that zinc is good for other parts of the body, but never knew it plays a vital role with eye disease. I wonder if there has been more studies done that looked at zinc with the relationship to sight. Along with what would be some other foods that would be easily consume to help with one's health and nutrition.
ReplyDeleteThis a great example of how better understanding the important roles that nutrition plays can help our health especially our eye health in this case. Getting proper amounts of nutrients not just foods can make a big difference in health as we have discussed multiple times in our nutrition class. I would be interested in learning more about how zinc plus antioxidants plays a role. I would expect manganese to play role since it's involved in MnSOD is important in getting rid of radicals but not zinc. I definitely agree with Mush that experiments like this are important to conduct because they reveal how important vitamins and nutrients are to our overall health. Great blog!
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