Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 13 Vitamins C and E fare no better than placebo S upplementation with vita- mins C or E does nothing to forestall cataract forma- tion, according to William G. Christen, Ph.D., associ- ate professor in medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston. In the No- vember 2010 issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology, investigators led by Dr. Christen reported on the results of a randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial of 11,545 men. Investigators decided to delve into this because some prior obser- vational studies had indicated that antioxidants could help stave off age-related cataracts. "There has been a lot of research suggesting that antioxidants can help prevent age-related cataract," Dr. Christen said. "The data from studies that were not randomized trials sug- gested a benefit." No randomized connection Only a randomized trial, however, could show a true connection. With this in mind, investigators consid- ered data from a trial dubbed the "Physician's Health Study" in which 11,000 male participants were inves- tigated primarily for signs of cardio- vascular disease. In the process, other data such as that for cataract formation was also collected. "It was funded by the National Eye Institute to collect information on eye disease including cataracts," Dr. Christen said. Participants in the study were all 50 years and older. Many of those in the study were randomly placed on vitamin supplementation. "The men were randomly assigned to re- ceive vitamin E, 400 international units on alternative days, or placebo and were assigned to 500 mg of vitamin C or placebo daily," Dr. Christen said. "They were followed for an average of 8 years, and during that time we confirmed 1,174 cataracts in those men." However, investigators were un- able to find any benefit to the vita- min supplementation. At the 8-year mark, for those in the vitamin E- treated group, there were 579 cataracts compared with 595 in the placebo-treated group. Likewise, those taking vitamin C logged 593 cataracts compared with 581 in the placebo-treated group. "The number of cataracts in the treated and in the placebo groups was very similar for both vitamin C and vitamin E," Dr. Christen said. "We found no benefit of the treatment." Even cases in which patients re- ceived both nutrients did not fare any better than those treated with placebo. "About one-quarter re- ceived both active agents, and there was no evidence that the combined vitamin E and vitamin C treatment was any different than the place- bos," Dr. Christen said. He sees the data here as ground- breaking. "These data represent the longest treatment duration for vita- min E," Dr. Christen said. "There have been several other trials that included vitamin C as part of a cock- by Maxine Lipner Senior EyeWorld Contributing Editor Cataract corner: Randomized results dispel benefit of vitamin supplentation RHEIN CODE RHEIN CODE DRYEYE CODE DRYEYE CODE 3360 Scherer Drive, Suite B, St.. Petersburg, FL 33716 s 4EL s &AX %MAIL )NFO 2HEIN-EDICALCOM s 7EBSITE WWW2HEIN-EDICALCOM $EVELOPED )N #OORDINATION 7ITH 3TEVEN , -ASKIN -$ 0#453 )NTRADUCTAL -EIBOMIAN 'LAND 0ROBING 2ELIEVES 3YMPTOMS OF /BSTRUCTIVE -EIBOMIAN 'LAND $YSFUNCTION -ASKIN 3TEVEN , #ORNEA /CTOBER 6ITRUVIAN -AN $A6INCI ACBB 1315 Rev.B RHEIN CODE RHEIN CODE I KI S AS -A R TR N )N N )N D E P OP L EL VE E $ $ ) L IL AI M %M 3360 Sc .B v.B 1315 Re I CI N IN 6I A $ N AN - N AN I VI U R TR I 6I R ER BE O TO C / A E N RN O #O , N E VE E TE 3 N IN N ON I TI C N UN FU SF YS $Y D N AN LA 'L N AN I M OM B I EI -E E VE I TI C U R TR S BS / F OF T P MP YM 3Y S ES V E I LI EL 2 G N IN BI O RO 0R D N AN LA 'L N AN I M OM B I EI -E L AL TA C U D A RA 5 4 #4 0 $ - N IN KI S AS -A , N EN V E TE 3 H TH I 7I N O I TI A N IN DI RD OR O #O N DI E -E N IN E H 2H W WW WW E TE I S BS E 7E s M O C L AL C IC DI E -E N IN EI H 2H 2 O FO NF )N X AX &A s L EL 4E s urg, FL 33716 er Drive, Suite B, St.. Petersb her herer Drive, Suite B, St.. Petersb 3360 Sc 3360 Scher YEYE CODE DR DRYEYE CODE YEYE CODE DR DRYEYE CODE S MS O TO 3 53 M OM C L AL C I urg, FL 33716 CBB A continued on page 14 April 2011

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