Can Healthy Diet, Vitamin D, and Exercise Reduce Risk of Early AMD in Women?
April 13, 2011
A recently published epidemiological study showed that lifestyle factors can significantly reduce the risk of early age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in women ages 55-74. Those scoring highest on the Healthy Eating Index (which assesses how closely people stick to the federal dietary recommendations) had a 46% lowered risk of AMD compared to those scoring lowest. As for physical activity, those exercising the most had a 54% lowered risk compared to those scoring lowest. When these two factors were combined with not smoking risk was reduced by a whopping 71%.
A separately published paper on the same study reported that vitamin D intake was associated with a decreased rate of early AMD, but only in women less than 75 years old.
The studies drew participants from the Carotenoids in Age-Related Eye Disease Study, an offshoot study of the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study.
For abstracts of the recent articles in Archives of Ophthalmology, click here and here.
Risa Schulman, PhD
Expert, Healthy Food and Dietary Supplement Science, Marketing and Regulatory
Tap~Root
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