Antioxidant vitamin and mineral supplements for preventing age-related macular degeneration.

Study answer

What this study found

Antioxidant vitamin and mineral supplementation can modestly delay AMD progression, with strongest evidence from AREDS. AREDS showed antioxidants plus zinc reduced progression to advanced AMD (odds ratio 0.68; 95% CI 0.53–0.87) and reduced loss of 15 letters of distance visual acuity (OR 0.77; 95% CI 0.62–0.96). Other regimens yielded less consistent or smaller benefits; some showed little or no improvement in continuous visual acuity measures. Adverse effects included yellow skin coloration with antioxidants and higher anemia with zinc; one trial noted more hospital admissions with zinc.…

Study & population

Participants: people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in one or both eyes; average age about 72 years; slightly more women (~56%); study designs: randomized controlled trials (parallel-group; AREDS included a 2x2 factorial design); settings included ophthalmology clinics and population samples; trials spanned early to late AMD.

Intervention

Zinc sulfate 200 mg daily; zinc oxide 80 mg daily; zinc monocysteine 25 mg daily; broad-spectrum antioxidant formulations (Ocuguard; Visaline) versus placebo; Vitamin E alone (VE-CAT) at 500 IU daily; AREDS regimen in 2x2 factorial design: placebo; zinc alone; antioxidants (Vitamin C 500 mg; Vitamin E 400 IU;…

Key limitation

Most trials were small or of short duration; regimens and outcome measures were heterogeneous; reliance on AREDS for most positive effects; some trials had incomplete reporting or potential biases; generalizability to diverse populations remains uncertain.

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Original abstract