Vitamins E and C may have little to no benefit for aging eyes affected by macular degeneration, a new clinical trial has found.
Contrary to what researchers had hoped – that both of the antioxidant vitamins could inhibit tissue erosion that occurs with macular degeneration – the vitamins show no conclusive positive results in the prevention of macular degeneration.
Studies have found that people with more antioxidants in their diet are at lower risk for macular degeneration. However, this does not prevent other dietary or lifestyle choices from playing a role in obtaining the disease.
This most recent clinical trial, carried out by William G. Christen of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, is the longest-running study to test vitamin E for eyesight in men, and is also the first to experiment with vitamin C by itself.
No benefits were found in men who took supplements for eight years.
No one study can say for certain what the relationship between the vitamins and macular degeneration is, said Christen. However, as the study shows, there is no evidence to support taking vitamins E and/or C to keep vision loss at bay.
The men who took part in the study (over 14,000 American male doctors aged 50 and older) were randomly assigned to either take 400 international units of vitamin E or a placebo every other day, coupled with a daily dose of either 500 milligrams of vitamic C or a placebo. Thus, the men in the study were either taking both vitamins, neither, or only one.
193 men developed macular degeneration after eight years, and it was serious enough to hamper their vision. However, the risk was almost identical between vitamin and placebo users.
The rate of macular degeneration among Americans may be in decline. Despite this, 890,000 Americans have advanced macular degeneration, among an estimated 7.2 million people who have it to some degree. According to a study last year, under 7% of people aged 40 and over have the disease, compared to over 9% in the early 1990s.
Christen feels that this has to do with decreasing smoking rates.
“A large body of evidence supports cigarette smoking as an important cause of age-related macular degeneration,” said Christen.
The researching team behind the new study have stated that their sample group were a “well-nourished”, and say it’s possible that vitamins E and C would have a more positive effect in people with vitamin deficiencies.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/03/us-vitamins-vision-disorder-idUSBRE8420M320120503