By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, January 16, 2007, abstracted from The Roche European American Cataract Trial (REACT): a randomized clinical trial to investigate the efficacy of an oral antioxidant micronutrient mixture to slow progression of age-related cataract” in the February 2002 issue of Ophthalmic Epidemiology
Defined as “a clouding of the lens in the eye that affects vision”, cataracts are one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness, along with age-related macular degeneration. By age 80, more than half of all Americans either have a cataract or have had cataract surgery.1
In the study, nearly 300 patients from the U.S. and U.K. were given either an antioxidant supplement that provided a daily dose of 18 mg of beta-carotene, 750 mg of vitamin C and 600 mg of vitamin E or placebo. The patients were followed up for two to four years (231 were followed for two years; 158 for three years and 36 (12%) for four years). Cataract severity, in the form of increasing opacity (“cloudiness”) of the lens was the main outcome measure of the study and was measured using serial digital retroillumination imagery of the lens.
While there were no statistically significant differences between patients in regards to lens opacity at the beginning of the study, they found that the longer the study lasted, the greater the differences between the supplement and placebo groups. With “a small positive treatment effect” after two years of treatment, this increased after three years to “a positive effect” and was apparent in both the U.S. and the U.K. groups. For the U.S. group, however, the positive effect was even greater after three years and was thought to be related to the base diet of those in the U.S. versus the U.K.
For the researchers, “Daily use of the afore-mentioned micronutrients for three years produced a small deceleration in progression of ARC.”
Reference:
1 National Eye Institute Website
2 Jacques PF. Long-term Nutrient Intake and 5-Year Change in Nuclear Lens Opacities. Arch Ophthalmol. 2005;123:517-526
3 Reddy VN. SOD2 Protects against Oxidation-Induced Apoptosis in Mouse Retinal Pigment Epithelium: Implications for Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2005 46: 3426-3434
4 Chiu CJ. Dietary carbohydrate intake and glycemic index in relation to cortical and nuclear lens opacities in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study. Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, May 2006; 83: 1177 – 1184
5 Chylack, L.T., Jr., et al., The Roche European American Cataract Trial (REACT): a randomized clinical trial to investigate the efficacy of an oral antioxidant micronutrient mixture to slow progression of age-related cataract. Ophthalmic Epidemiol, 2002. 9(1): p. 49-80
Product Catalog : Store Finder : Quality : Health Library : About NOW : News & Events : Contact us