NEW YORK -- Health experts have long recognized a link between eye health and nutrition.
As if to underscore that relationship, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced last October that it would launch a nationwide study to investigate whether a modified combination of vitamins, minerals and fish oil can slow the progression of vision loss from age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of vision loss in the United States of people over the age of 60.
The research project, called Age-Related Eye Disease Study 2, will build on results of the earlier Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), the results of which were released in 2001. The original investigation found that high dosages of antioxidant vitamins and minerals--vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, zinc and copper--taken orally reduced the risk of AMD by 25% and the risk of moderate vision loss by 19%, according to the researchers.
The new study will refine the findings of the first investigation by adding lutein and zeaxanthin, two carotenoids that are contained within the retina, as well as omega-3 fatty acids derived from fish oils. The main objective of the study will be to determine if these nutrients will decrease a person's risk of progression of advanced AMD. The study will follow 4,000 people between the ages of 50 and 85 with AMD in both eyes or advanced AMD in one eye over a period of five years.
AMD damages the macula, the small area responsible for central vision near the center of the retina. 'Nearly 2 million Americans have vision loss from advanced AMD, and another 7 million with AMD are at substantial risk for vision loss,' says Paul Sieving, director of the National Eye Institute of the NIH. 'In the AREDS study we found a combination of vitamins and minerals that effectively slowed the progress of AMD in some people. Now we will conduct this more precisely targeted study to see if the new combination of nutrients can reduce AMD progression even further.
'This study may help people at high risk for advanced AMD maintain useful vision for a longer time.'
Eye health is an important segment in the nutritional supplements category, generating sales of about $100 million a year in the U.S., according to Bausch & Lomb, which supplies eye-related nutritional supplements under the PreserVision and Ocuvite brands. The company has expanded its PreserVision line to include a version with lutein; its Ocuvite brand includes both lutein and omega-3 in adult and adult 50+ formulas.
Another supplement supplier in the eye care arena is Pharmavite LLC, which offers Eye Defense under its Nature Made brand. The product is formulated with lutein, zeaxanthin and antioxidants to support the eyes in age-related vision conditions.
1 & 2 Letter DOLLAR SALES UNIT VOLUME Vitamins $316.3 mil. (-3.6%) * 55.1 mil. (-6.6%) * Percent Change Percent Change vs. vs. Prior 12 Months Prior 12 Months For 52 Weeks Supermarkets Supermarkets Ending 12/3/06 -5.9% -5.9% Drug Stores Drug Stores -2.3% -5.9% Top Brands Dollar Unit Sales ** Volume *** 1. Nature Made $94.1 mil. 14.7 mil. 2. Nature's Bounty 33.3 mil. 5.3 mil. 3. Sundown 13.2 mil. 2.6 mil. 4. Slo Niacin 4.8 mil. 0.3 mil. 5. Alacer Emergen C 4.3 mil. 0.5 mil. 6. Stresstabs Smartcare 3.1 mil. 0.4 mil. 7. Lipoflavonoid 3.1 mil. 0.1 mil. 8. Appearex 2.3 mil. 0.1 mil. 9. Windmill 2.1 mil. 0.3 mil. 10. Twinlab 2.1 mil. 0.2 mil. * Total of supermarkets, drug stores and discount stores excluding Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ** All private label brands combined total $121.4 mil. *** All private label brands combined total 25.5 mil. Source: Information Resources Inc.
