There is a certain amount of vision loss that your older patients can expect over time as part of the natural aging process.
This will usually show up in the form of blurriness as a result of dry eyes because the natural eye lubrication process is not working as effectively as when your patients were younger. However, if your patients start to have noticeable vision loss, particularly around the central part of their field of vision, that is more likely than not the result of macular degeneration, rather than just simply the effects of aging.
Fortunately, there appears to be some evidence that supplementing your patients’ diets with lutein may help protect their vision against macular degeneration.
Fast facts about macular degeneration
Macular degeneration is the deterioration of the center of the retina (the macula), which is the back layer of the eye that records the images we see, and then sends those images to the brain. It will show up as a loss of vision right in the center of the eye.1 Dry macular degeneration is the most common type (approximately 85 percent of cases), which does not involve any blood or serum leakage.
In such cases, the retina atrophies.1 In the less-common wet type of macular degeneration, blood vessels grow under the retina and macula, and leak. This can cause the retina and macula to lift up and bulge.
Macular degeneration is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in America, affecting more than 10 million people over the age of 60. The risk for developing macular degeneration increases dramatically with age, going from 2 percent for adults between the ages of 50 and 59, to almost 30 percent for those over the age of 75.2
Good sources of lutein
While there are lutein supplements available, the best sources are from fresh vegetables, particularly spinach and kale. Other good sources include: carrots, broccoli, red and yellow peppers, sweet corn, and tomatoes.
Can lutein protect against macular degeneration?
A small pilot study published in the Journal of the American Optometry Association examined the effect of lutein on the progression of macular degeneration.3 Fourteen subjects between the ages of 51 and 79, with symptoms of advanced macular degeneration, added four to seven weekly servings of spinach into their regular diet.
At the end of 12 months, the subjects reported improvement in various symptoms, such as blurry vision and loss of central vision.3
A more recent meta-analysis, published in Ophthalmic Research, pooled together the results of a number of smaller studies to find similar patterns among the findings.4 The researchers found that lutein supplementation did appear to improve macular degeneration symptoms. Furthermore, a dose of 10 mg appeared to be the most effective.
- What is macular degeneration? American Macular Degeneration Foundation. Accessed July 24, 2017.
- Friedman DS, O’Colmain BJ, Muñoz B, et al. (2004). Prevalence of age-related macular degeneration in the United States. Archives of Ophthalmology, 122(4), 564-572.
- Richer S. (1999). ARMD–pilot (case series) environmental intervention data. Journal of the American Optometry Association, 70(1), 24-36.
- Wang X, Jiang C, Zhang Y, et al. (2014). Role of lutein supplementation in the management of age-related macular degeneration: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Ophthalmic Research, 52(4), 198-205.