EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
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30 EW NEWS & OPINION March 2012 Honing in on nutrition and eye health by Vanessa Caceres EyeWorld Contributing Editor Source: Digital Vision/Getty Images Study finds baby boomer interest in topic but lack of knowledge A patient asks if lutein can help with dry eye. An- other patient might ask if eating more carrots will help with general eye health. Yet another has no aware- ness of the connection between nu- trition and eye disease prevention. These familiar-sounding scenar- ios relate to a growing awareness of the importance of nutrition and eye health—and the simultaneous lack of knowledge that some patients have regarding what nutrients can really help their eyes. A survey released in October 2011 by the Ocular Nutrition Society found that although 78% of baby boomers rank vision as the most im- portant of their five senses and 55% worried about vision loss almost as much as they worried about heart disease or cancer, almost 60% of those surveyed were not aware of the beneficial role of omega-3 fatty acids in eye health. Additionally, 66% were not aware of the role of lutein and 89% were not aware of the role of zeaxanthin. Nearly 50% of respondents did not have an an- nual eye exam. "There's a disconnect," said Jeffrey Anshel, O.D., F.A.A.O., presi- dent, Ocular Nutrition Society, and in private practice, Carlsbad, Calif. "Eye diseases can progress slowly, so it's not a screaming issue." For this reason, the general population may want to take good care of their eyes but may not consider how nutrition and regular eye exams play a role. The survey, called Eye on the Boomer, culled results from phone interviews with about 1,000 men and women between the ages of 45- 65 to assess their eyecare habits and level of understanding on the rela- tionship between nutrition and eye health. The study was sponsored by Bausch + Lomb (Rochester, N.Y.) and promoted by the Ocular Nutrition Society, which helps eye doctors support the role of nutrition in eye health. The Society has been around for about 4 years and has approxi- mately 700 optometrist and oph- thalmologist members, Dr. Anshel said. The survey also found that only 18% of those interviewed took sup- plements to support eye health, compared with a little over half who took supplements to protect their joints, bones, or heart health. The survey helps to reveal what patients generally know about nutri- tion and eye health, Dr. Anshel said. Of course, that does not mean the information they obtain is always accurate, he added. A comparison To some extent, the survey results seem to match what clinicians find when speaking with patients. It wasn't until 2001 with the re- sults of the Age-Related Eye Disease Study study regarding age-related macular degeneration (AMD) that the link between nutrition and eye health really emerged, believes epi- demiologist Cecile Delcourt, Ph.D., Bordeaux, France. "Until then, even ophthalmologists would not think nutrition had any effect on the eye. This field has really been developing in the last 10 years." Dr. Delcourt has worked with research groups tracking the relationship between certain nutrients and AMD. Her lat- est work is with the Alienor study, which confirms a decreased risk for AMD in subjects with higher omega- 3 consumption. However, some ophthalmolo- gists treat a different subgroup of pa- tients—those who are hyperaware of nutrition. "This comes up fairly often," said dry eye specialist Robert Latkany, M.D., founder and direc- tor, Dry Eye Clinic, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, New York. "I get patients, usually educated females, who want to tackle their problem continued on page 32