Do Vitamins Benefit Your Eye Health?

Macular degeneration, also known as a disease of a yellow spot or the center of vision, is a disease that occurs in advanced age and is the leading cause of central blindness in the population over 60 years. Until recently, people suffering from this disease could only be prescribed with vitamins and magnifiers…

Adding omega – 3 fatty acids (and other nutrients) to the diet will give no protection to older people against this main cause of vision loss.

The studies showed that this disease affects millions of older people in the United States and it is a leading cause of vision loss in the developed world (50 percent in America).

“Without knowledge of the ways that might slow the progression of the condition we estimate that the number of patients with macular degeneration will double in the next 20 years,” said Dr. Emily Chew from the American Institute for Eye Diseases .

Do vitamins help?

Doctors have been claiming that a mixture of vitamins C, E, beta carotene and zinc can slow the development of macular degeneration. To confirm the theory, scientists have organized a five-year study of 4,000 patients aged 50 to 85. They wanted to find out if there was any impact on the health of the eye by adding omega – 3 fatty acids, lutein and beta- carotene supplements to the diet.

Unfortunately, the study concluded that these additions will not help in preventing the occurrence of disease or its treatment! Researchers are not sure whether this kind of result is due to the lack of efficiency or it is the result of insufficient dose, short duration of treatment, or both factors.

Taken from: www.ordinacija.hr