Diet and risk factors for age-related maculopathy1-3

  • O’Connell, Eamonn D
  • Nolan, John M
  • Stack, Jim
  • Greenberg, David
  • Kyle, Janet
  • Maddock, LeighAnne
  • Beatty, Stephen

  • 1From the Macular Pigment Research Group, Department of Chemical and Life Sciences (EDOC, JMN, SB, and LAM) and Department of Physical and Quantitative Sciences (JS), Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland; the Department of Ophthalmology, Waterford Regional Hospital, Waterford, Ireland (EDOC and SB); the Department of Anatomy, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland (EDOC); the MRC Human Nutrition Research, Cambridge, United Kingdom (DG); the Scottish Collaborative Group, Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland (JK).

    2 Supported by Fighting Blindness Ireland.

    3 Reprints not available. Address correspondence to ED O’Connell, Department of Ophthalmology, Waterford Regional Hospital, Waterford, Ireland.

E-mail: [email protected].

Received November 9, 2006.

Accepted for publication September 24, 2007.

We are grateful to Fighting Blindness Ireland, who sponsored this research.

The authors’ responsibilities were as follows—EDOC: conducted the statistical analysis and drafted the article; JMN: participated in the concept and design of the study, recruited the subjects, collected the data, and provided input into the final draft; SB: participated in the concept and design of the study and provided input into the final draft; JS: supervised the statistical analysis and provided input into the final draft; DG: constructed the database used to estimate the dietary intake of lutein and zeaxanthin, separately, and provided input into the final draft; JK: analyzed the FFQs and provided input into the final draft; and LM: participated in the data input and management and provided information technology support and input into the final draft. All authors critiqued the manuscript for intellectual content, had access to the data, and approved the final version of the manuscript. None of the authors had a conflict of interest in relation to this study.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 87(3):p 712-722, March 2008.

ABSTRACT

Background:

Evidence continues to accumulate that oxidative stress is etiologically important in the pathogenesis of age-related maculopathy (ARM) and that appropriate antioxidants of dietary origin may protect against this condition.

Objective:

Risk factors for ARM may be classed as established or putative. We report a study designed to investigate whether such risk factors are associated with a dietary lack of antioxidants relevant to retinal health.

Design:

Dietary, anthropometric, and sociodemographic details relating to 828 healthy Irish subjects aged 20-60 y were recorded in a cross-sectional fashion and analyzed for associations between risk factors for ARM and dietary intake of relevant nutrients.

Results:

Of the established risk factors for ARM, increasing age was associated with a relative lack of dietary zeaxanthin (P < 0.05) and tobacco use with a relative lack of dietary vitamin C (P < 0.05). Of the putative risk factors for ARM, alcohol consumption was associated with a relative lack of dietary α-linoleic acid (P < 0.05), and female sex was associated with a relative lack of dietary zinc (P < 0.05).

Conclusions:

We showed that several variables related to risk for ARM are associated with a relative dietary lack of key nutrients. Our finding that age, the most important and universal risk factor for ARM, is associated with a relative lack of dietary zeaxanthin, is an important finding that warrants further investigation.

Copyright © 2013 by the American Society for Nutrition