Johns Hopkins Health Alert
How To Prevent Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)
- Steps to prevent age-related macular degeneration or slow its progression include dietary supplements, diet and, possibly, reduced exposure to sunlight.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) affects the macula, the central, most sensitive part of the retina. In the United States, age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of severe and irreversible loss of central vision in people over age 40, affecting 1.7 million Americans, or 1.47 percent of people in this age group. Most people in this group have non-neovascular macular degeneration, which often does not seriously impair vision. But neovascular macular degeneration, a more severe form of the disorder, can cause vision loss.
Some studies indicate that people can take steps to prevent age-related macular degeneration or slow its progression. Steps to prevent or slow age-related macular degeneration include dietary supplements, diet and, possibly, reduced exposure to sunlight.
The effect of dietary supplements on the risk and progression of age-related macular degeneration was investigated in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study, which included more than 3,500 people (age 55 to 80). For an average of six years, participants took dietary supplements (containing antioxidants, zinc or antioxidants plus zinc) or a placebo. None of the dietary supplements reduced the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration. But in those with intermediate or advanced age-related macular degeneration, the supplement containing antioxidants plus zinc reduced the risk of more advanced age-related macular degeneration by 25 percent.
The antioxidant plus zinc supplement used in the study contained 500 mg of vitamin C, 400 IU of vitamin E, 15 mg of beta-carotene, 80 mg of zinc oxide and 2 mg of cupric oxide. It is sold under the brand name Ocuvite PreserVision and is available without a prescription. (Smokers and people who have recently quit smoking should not use this supplement, because the beta-carotene in it has been found to increase the risk of lung cancer in smokers.)
Other studies have suggested that eating fruits and vegetables high in carotenoids, especially those high in beta-carotene (carrots, spinach and cantaloupes, for example), might help prevent age-related macular degeneration.
In addition, avoiding excessive exposure to sunlight has been found to be protective in some studies. In the Beaver Dam Eye Study, people who spent at least five hours a day in the summer engaged in leisure activities outdoors in their teens and 30s had twice the rate of age-related macular degeneration as those who spent fewer than two hours outside each day. In addition, people who wore hats and sunglasses tended to have a lower rate of age-related macular degeneration.
Posted in Vision on April 16, 2006
Reviewed June 2011
Medical Disclaimer: This information is not intended to substitute for the advice of a physician. Click here for additional information: Johns Hopkins Health Alerts Disclaimer
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I have early A.M.D. & would like to know more re. Avasin & Rheophoresis . Thanks Dr. Jim Leeson
Posted by: leeson | May 17, 2006 8:48 PM
A search for rheophoresis on Google yielded several interesting articles on this procedure. Could not find anything on Avasin, however. Do you mean Avastin? Search both terms in Google and I am sure if there is anything recent, pubmed or one of the other medical sites for professionals will have a summary and bibliographic data.
Posted by: Jo | May 22, 2006 6:17 PM
I am 68 and my apparently have AMD. When I describe my developing symptoms to an ophthamologist I don't seem to get much of a response other than something like "mmmmmm." Here's a question regarding red or black roundish areas I have often--but not always--in my central vision in very low, almost dark light situations: Are INTERMITTENT episodes of central vision blindness like this attributable to AMD?
Posted by: suzannepepin | November 21, 2009 12:50 PM
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I would be very pleased to receive information and or an explanation of a new procedure, "AVASIN". I have AMD.
Thankyou
Posted by: digger 11 | May 17, 2006 4:09 PM