New Research Confirms Role of Vitamin E Supplements Against Macular
Degeneration
Washington
DC, 22 December 2003
A
new study has confirmed earlier reports that antioxidant supplements
including Vitamin E can be beneficial for people with vision loss
from age-related macular degeneration, or AMD.
AMD
is the leading cause of blindness in people over 65 years of age.
Earlier studies found that a "cocktail" containing Vitamin E supplements,
together with Vitamin C, beta carotene and zinc, can be effective
against AMD.
Now
the latest study, published in the medical journal Archives of
Ophthalmology, examined the results of the earlier studies and
determined that, by using the antioxidant supplements, many AMD
sufferers might be able to avoid developing the advanced disease.
The
new study, partially funded by Bausch & Lomb, said that 8 million
people in the U.S. have AMD but haven't reached the advance stage
of the disease. Researchers found that l.3 million of that number
would develop advanced AMD within five years if the supplements
were not used. But if the group used the antioxidant supplement
treatment, more than 300,000 of the number could be saved from advanced
AMD.
Meanwhile,
Mount Sinai School of Medicine's health publication, Focus on
Healthy Aging, also reported recently that "research suggests
that people with early signs of dry AMD can slow progression of
the disease by taking the cocktail" containing Vitamin E, Vitamin
C, beta carotene and zinc.
Source
Foods
for the Future.
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