In the past ten years, several assertions have surfaced that some nutritional supplements could aid in preventing several prevalent eye conditions. Similar to numerous arenas of health, there is dearth of concrete study to back all such assertions.
However, even as a number of eye care specialists have been sceptically approaching widely promoted nutritional supplements touting improved vision, there are studies which suggest a few of these supplements might really be helpful to people at an elevated risk of developing advanced eye conditions.
A lot of these studies have encased AMD (age-related macular degeneration), a prime reason for eyesight failure. It is a major issue with eight million individuals at risk of developing AMD and above 1.70 million individuals having advanced type of AMD, as per statistics provided by the National Eye Institute. It is anticipated that the numbers of AMD sufferers would increase two-folds in the next decade.
Hence, when a large-scaled trial AREDS (Age-Related Eye Disease Study) uncovered that individuals at an elevated risk of advanced AMD reduced the risk by nearly twenty-five percent when they underwent treatment with an elevated dosage merging vitamins E, C, zinc and beta-carotene, eye care investigators finally took notice.
The NEI backed scientific study conducted in 2001, additionally observed that intake of such supplements lessened the risk of suffering from eyesight failure caused due to advanced AMD by around nineteen percent.
Nutritional Supplements – No Elixir for Eye Health
But, there is shortage of proof from this trial to indicate that intake of nutritional supplements could help individuals with no present eyesight conditions from imminently getting AMD, states Doctor Emily Chew, helming the AREDS study and second-in-command of the Division Of Epidemiology and Clinical Research.
The AREDS study finding indicated that taking fifty milligrams of beta carotene, five hundred milligrams vitamin C, eighty milligrams – zinc and four hundred I.U.(International Units) – vitamin E were noted to be effectual dosages of every supplement.
Generally, several eye care specialists might advice nutritional supplements solely for people with existing particular kinds of vision loss. For instance, in case of dry AMD, a less acute type of AMD, nutritional supplements might be more beneficial due to its gradual advancement of eyesight failure instead of the more acute wet AMD.
Nutritional Supplements would not treat all Eye Illnesses, State Ophthalmologists
Factually Dr. Chew has pointed out that an ophthalmologist must solely advice supplements in case an eye examination is showing yellowed spot formations in the eyes known as drusen – a prevalent AMD sign when the condition is in its intermediary staging.
Antioxidants are the prevalent nutrient in majority of the eye care supplements since oxidative stress (the harmful impact of reactive oxygen and toxic substances) is suspected in AMD, as is the case in major of the eye-linked conditions and also in the senescence process itself. Scientists have suggested that possibly antioxidants might aid in slowing the advancement of eyesight failure.
Several specialists have stated that many other antioxidant types which are presently promoted for eye health are not substantiated with noteworthy studies. A medical advisor for the Non-profit organization ‘Prevent Blindness America’, Doctor Timothy Stout states that the AREDS trial is the type that is needed to truly state that a particular nutrient is beneficial to the eyes.
