title: A review of the evidence for dietary interventions in preventing or slowing the progression of age-related macular degeneration.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To summarise the results of recent Cochrane systematic reviews that have investigated whether nutritional supplements prevent or slow the progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
  
  
  RESULTS
  There is no good evidence from randomised controlled trials that the general population should be taking antioxidant vitamin supplements to reduce their risk of developing AMD later on in life. By contrast, there is moderate quality evidence that people with AMD may experience a delay in progression by taking specific antioxidant vitamin and mineral supplements. This finding is drawn from one large randomised controlled trial conducted in the USA in a relatively well-nourished population. Although observational studies have shown that the consumption of dietary omega 3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids may reduce the risk of progression to advanced AMD, two recently published randomised controlled trials failed to show any benefit of omega 3 supplements on AMD progression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is no high quality experimental evidence that nutritional supplementation is beneficial for the primary prevention of AMD. However, people with AMD may benefit from supplementation with antioxidant vitamins. There is currently no evidence to support increasing levels of omega 3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the diet for the explicit purpose of preventing or slowing the progression of AMD.
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: Jennifer R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Lawrenson
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D018450:Disease Progression; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008268:Macular Degeneration / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D014815:Vitamins / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D014815:Vitamins
keywords: Age-Related Eye Disease Study; macular degeneration; omega 3 fatty acids; vitamins