Phytochemical Carotenoids Protects the Eyes of Elderly Against Age-Related Macular Degeneration

By Kyle J. Norton

Age-related macular degeneration is a condition caused by the deterioration of the small central portion of the retina, known as the macula

Macular degeneration happened mostly in adults over 60, is one of the major cause of vision loss.

The exact causes of macular degeneration are not identified. As of today, researchers cannot explain why some elderly are susceptible to macular degeneration while others do not.

However, researchers do know that certain risk factors have been found epidemiologically to induce the risk of macular degeneration including aging, the disease has been found most commonly in people over 50, family history and genetics, race, macular degeneration is more common in Caucasians.

Smoking, obesity and medical condition such as cardiovascular disease are also associated with a higher risk of macular degeneration

There are 2 forms of macular degeneration found in the elderly
* The dry form is caused by the presence of yellow deposits, called drusen under the retina, in the macula. However, the elderly with increased was not at a higher risk of macular degeneration.


* The wet form is caused by the growth of abnormal blood vessels from the choroid, the vascular layer of the eye, underneath the retina.

Compared to the loss of vision of 10% of patients induced by the wet form, most patients of macular degeneration have the dry form which has been found to cause loss of some central vision.

Some researchers suggested that macular degeneration may also be caused by an unhealthy diet. Dr. Martha P. Montgomery wrote, "A 97-item Block food frequency questionnaire was used to gather diet information, and overall diet quality was measured using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)".

And, "Participants in the highest quartile of diet quality had significantly reduced odds of AMD according to the AHEI score (0.54, 95% confidence interval 0.30 – 0.99) and non-significantly reduced odds of AMD according to the HEI (0.75, 0.41 – 1.38). Odds of AMD were also 51% lower in the highest quartile of fish intake compared to the lowest quartile (odds ratio = 0.49, 0.26 – 0.90)".

These results strongly suggested the risk of AMD is many folds higher in people who follow the Western diet compared to those who follow the Oriental diet.
Carotenoids is a class of mainly yellow, orange, or red fat-soluble pigments, including lycopene and carotene, found abundantly in ripe tomato, pumpkins, carrots, corn, and daffodils.

On finding a potential ingredient for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), researchers examined the beneficial role for carotenoids in the prevention of AMD.

Epidemiologically, in a case-control study by comparing the risk AMD in subjects with late AMD, exudative AMD, and retinal pigment abnormalities with the presence of drusen, and an equal number of control subjects, 

*Administration of lutein and zeaxanthin induced serum concentrations were not associated with the risk of AMD.

* Consumption of food sources of lutein and zeaxanthin (carotenoids) was associated with reducing the risk of macular degeneration.

* People with higher levels of lutein and zeaxanthin in the blood have a lower risk of AMD.

However,  the reduced risk of lutein and zeaxanthin for AMD when levels of the carotenoids are elevated in the serum or diet was not consistent.

Based on the findings, researchers wrote, "Until scientifically sound knowledge is available we recommend for patients judged to be at risk for AMD to alter their diet to more dark green leafy vegetables, wear UV protective lenses and a hat when outdoors".

Taken altogether, carotenoids, particularly lutein and zeaxanthin may be considered a remedy for the prevention and treatment of age-related macular degeneration, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of carotenoids in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources

Sources
(1) The role of the carotenoids, lutein, and zeaxanthin, in protecting against age-related macular degeneration: A review based on controversial evidence by Maneli Mozaffarieh,1 Stefan Sacu,1 and Andreas Wedrich. (PMC)
(2) Overall diet quality and age-related macular degeneration by Martha P. Montgomery, M.H.S., Freya Kamel, Ph.D., M.P.H., Margaret A. Pericak-Vance, Ph.D., Jonathan L. Haines, Ph.D., Eric A. Postel, M.D., Anita Agarwal, M.D., Marie Richards, Ph.D., William K. Scott, Ph.D.,* and Silke Schmidt, Ph.D. (PMC)