Even our eyes need vitamins. It is recognized that vitamins A, C, E, omega-3, taken from our diet contribute to eye health on several levels. They fight, among other things, against oxidation and the deposition of lipids on the retina, a symptom of AMD. They also prevent clouding of the lens, which reduces vision with age, causing cataracts. And in tablet form, do vitamins also have a beneficial effect on the eyes?
A new study published in the scientific journal American Academy of Ophthalmology answers in the affirmative but remains cautious. These vitamin supplements reduced the risk of developing cataracts in 14,641 American doctors.
Every day from 1997 to 2011, half of the group took vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene tablets. The other half of the panel followed a placebo treatment. In the end, 872 men in the “multivitamin group” developed cataracts, compared to 945 under placebo, ie a 9% reduction in risk. Especially the risk of suffering from nuclear cataract (cataract which affects the nucleus of the lens, the most common form of this disease associated with aging), has been reduced by 13%.
On the other hand, researchers at Harvard Medical School do not explain the link between vitamins and the reduction in the risk of suffering from this pathology in the long term. Further studies are therefore needed before recommending vitamin supplements to prevent cataracts. “These results need to be put into perspective with further trials of these multivitamin supplements in both men and women,” suggest the authors.
Vitamin supplements, a waste of money?
Caution is warranted because not all researchers agree on the effectiveness of these supplements on eye health and the prevention of chronic diseases in general. A study from the University of Baltimore published last December in the publication Annals of Internal Medicine concluded that these supplements were of no interest and more akin to “a waste of money”.
