HEALTH NEWS

Study Title:

Zeaxanthin Important for Eyesight During Aging

Study Abstract

Background: Evidence continues to accumulate that oxidative stress is etiologically important in the pathogenesis of age-related maculopathy (ARM) and that appropriate antioxidants of dietary origin may protect against this condition.

Objective: Risk factors for ARM may be classed as established or putative. We report a study designed to investigate whether such risk factors are associated with a dietary lack of antioxidants relevant to retinal health.

Design: Dietary, anthropometric, and sociodemographic details relating to 828 healthy Irish subjects aged 20–60 y were recorded in a cross-sectional fashion and analyzed for associations between risk factors for ARM and dietary intake of relevant nutrients.

Results: Of the established risk factors for ARM, increasing age was associated with a relative lack of dietary zeaxanthin (P < 0.05) and tobacco use with a relative lack of dietary vitamin C (P < 0.05). Of the putative risk factors for ARM, alcohol consumption was associated with a relative lack of dietary -linoleic acid (P < 0.05), and female sex was associated with a relative lack of dietary zinc (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: We showed that several variables related to risk for ARM are associated with a relative dietary lack of key nutrients. Our finding that age, the most important and universal risk factor for ARM, is associated with a relative lack of dietary zeaxanthin, is an important finding that warrants further investigation.

Study Information

Eamonn D O'Connell, John M Nolan, Jim Stack, David Greenberg, Janet Kyle, LeighAnne Maddock and Stephen Beatty.
Diet and risk factors for age-related maculopathy.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
2008 March
From the Macular Pigment Research Group, Department of Chemical and Life Sciences (EDOC, JMN, SB, and LAM) and Department of Physical and Quantitative Sciences (JS), Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland.