Articles about Eye Health and Disease 2003
 

Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Reduce Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

(From ARVO 2003 Annual Meeting: Abstract 811/B786, presented May 4, 2003; abstract 2111 presented May 6, 2003.)

Dietary omega-3 fatty acids but not beta-carotene supplementation is associated with a reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to two presentations May 4-6 at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) 2003 annual meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Higher intake of omega n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and fish was associated with decreased risk of having neovascular AMD (wet macular degeneration) after adjusting for nutrient- and non-nutrient-based predictors of AMD. The Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) was a case-control study of 4,513 participants aged 60 to 80 years at enrollment. Best-corrected visual acuity was 20/32 or better in at least one eye in all subjects.

Compared with the lowest fifth of total dietary Omega-3 fatty acid intake, the risk for neovascular AMD was significantly decreased for the highest fifth, after statistical adjustment for all nutrient- and non-nutrient-based variables. Vitamin E, an Omega-3 fatty acid that is selectively accreted and retained in the photoreceptor outer segments, also had a protective effect).

Total fish consumption of more than two servings per week was associated with a decreased risk for neovascular AMD compared with no fish in the diet. Having more than one four-ounce weekly serving of broiled or baked fish or tuna also protected against neovascular AMD.

A second study, by W. G. Christen, from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues, showed no protective effect of beta-carotene against Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). The Physicians Health Study I was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of beta-carotene (50 mg every other day) and low-dose aspirin in 22,071 healthy U.S. male physicians aged 40 to 84 years in 1982.

In 21,216 participants without AMD at baseline who were followed for at least seven years, average duration of treatment and follow-up was 12 years. Of 532 cases of confirmed AMD at follow-up, 332 had vision loss to 20/30 or worse. Total AMD developed in 261 subjects in the beta-carotene group and in 271 subjects in the placebo group. AMD with vision loss developed in 160 subjects in the beta-carotene group and in 172 subjects in the placebo group.

These randomized trial data from a large population of apparently healthy men indicate that 12 years of beta-carotene supplementation has no appreciable effect on AMD during the treatment period.

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