Phytochemical Carotenoids Inhibit the Risk of Cataract

By Kyle J. Norton

A cataract occurred in one or both eyes is a condition characterized by clouding of the lens in the eye that affects vision. Most cases of cataract are found in older adults.

Believe it or not, by age 80, more than half of all Americans either have a cataract or have had cataract surgery.

The exact causes of cataract are not identified. However, some researchers suggested that aging, a lifetime of exposure to ultraviolet radiation contained in sunlight, accompanied by cigarette smoking, a poor diet, and alcohol consumption are some of the prevalent factors associated with cataract developing.

Additionally, eye injury, exposure to toxic substances or radiation, and some medical conditions such as diabetes also increase the risk of cataract.

Conventionally, there is no cure for cataract. Treatment is focusing in replace the clouded natural lens by an artificial intraocular lens (IOL) implant. 

According to the statistics, cataract including the direct annual medical costs for outpatient, inpatient, and prescription drug services has reached a total of $6.8 billion in annual healthcare cost. The condition also affects over 24.4 million Americans age 40 and older.

Some researchers suggested that the rise of cataract in the older American may be correlated to the promotion of a high-fat diet over the past decades.

Dr. Chung-Jung Chiu, the lead scientist wrote, "The Oriental pattern was characterized by higher intake of vegetables, legumes, fruit, whole grains, tomatoes, and seafood. The Western pattern was characterized by higher intake of red meat, processed meat, high-fat dairy products, French fries, refined grains, and eggs".

And, "Our data indicate that consuming a Western dietary pattern is significantly associated with increased odds of early nuclear opacity".

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.

With an aim to find a potential compound for the treatment of cataract, researchers examined the effects of dietary vitamins and carotenoids on the risk of age-related cataract (ARC).

The meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies include the search of the MEDLINE, EMBASE, ISI Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases inception to June 2018.

According to the results of 8 RCTs and 12 cohort studies in the meta-analysis identified, carotenoids, including β-carotene (RR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.83, 0.99; P = 0.023), and lutein or zeaxanthin (RR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.75, 0.89; P < 0.001) were significantly associated with reduced risk of ARC in the cohort studies.

However, in RCTs, β-carotene found abundantly in carotenoids intervention did not reduce the risk of ARC significantly compared with the placebo group.

According to the dose-response analysis, in cohort studies for every 10-mg/d increase in lutein or zeaxanthin intake the risk of ARC significantly decreased by 26% with the relative odds ratio (RR) of 0.74. and for every 5-mg/d increase in β-carotene intake, the risk of ARC significantly decreased by 8% with the RR of .92.

In other words, the intake of carotenoids has a negative implication on the risk of ARC.

Based on the finding, researchers said, "Higher consumption of certain...carotenoids was associated with a significantly decreased risk of ARC in cohort studies, but evidence from RCTs is less clear".

Taken altogether, carotenoids may be considered a remedy for the prevention and treatment of age-related cataract (ARC), 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
(1) Serum status of carotenoids and tocopherols in patients with age-related cataracts: a case-control study by Olmedilla B1, Granado F, Blanco I, Herrero C, Vaquero M, Millan I. (PubMed)
(2) Dietary vitamin and carotenoid intake and risk of age-related cataract. by Jiang H1, Yin Y1, Wu CR2, Liu Y1, Guo F1, Li M3, Ma L. (PubMed)
(3) American Major Dietary Patterns and Age-related Cataract by Chung-Jung Chiu, Gary Gensler, and Allen Taylor. (Faseb)