Lutein and Vitamin A Team Up to Help Slow Vision Loss
Lee Swanson Research Update
Writing in the Archives of Ophthalmology, American scientists report that a daily supplement containing 12 mg of lutein in combination with 15,000 IU of vitamin A was associated with a preservation of mid-peripheral vision.
Retinitis pigmentosa is a group of inherited eye diseases that affect the retina. It causes the degeneration of photoreceptor cells, bringing progressive vision loss to about one in 4,000 people worldwide. Previous studies had found that taking vitamin A slows the decline in retinal function and vision loss.
The new data indicates that 40-year-olds with the condition who take the vitamin-A-plus-lutein combination would not be expected to lose their mid-peripheral field until the age of 61, which would represent a significant improvement compared with age 51 in people not taking supplements of the carotenoid.
Led by Eliot Berson, MD, from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in the Harvard Medical School, the researchers recruited 225 non-smoking people with retinitis pigmentosa aged between 18 and 60. The participants were randomly assigned to receive vitamin A only (15,000 IU, retinyl palmitate) or vitamin A plus lutein (12 mg per day) for four years.
While no significant effect was observed for the overall decline in vision between the two groups, a significant reduction in the rate of vision loss in the mid-peripheral region was observed.
According to the researchers, the average level of mid-peripheral sensitivity for a patient aged 40 years is 375 dB. People taking the lutein supplements lost on average 27 dB per year, while the other group lost 34 dB per year, the researchers noted.
Archives of Ophthalmology 128(4):403-411, 2010
April 2010
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