ARMD is a major cause of blindness among individuals with European ancestry and accounts for more than 50% of all blinding conditions.
The Eye Disease Prevalence Research Group estimates that 1.2 million U.S. residents are living with neovascular ARMD and 970,000 have geographic atrophy; these numbers expected to rise 50% by the year 2024.
There are three major purported risk factors for ARMD: age, positive family history and smoking. In fact, smoking is the only consistently proven risk factor for ARMD. As with other age-related diseases, the free radical theory of aging has been proposed as an underlying cause of ARMD. This theory proposes that oxidative stress occurs in the retina because levels of reactive oxidative intermediates (ROIs) increase to a level that exceeds the detoxifying capacity of antioxidants.
The researchers evaluated the protective effects ofzincand/or a formulation that consisted of nutrients with antioxidant properties,including vitamin C,vitamin E and beta-carotene. The researchers concluded that a combination of these antioxidants with zinc led to anoverall25% risk reduction in disease progressionin individuals who had a moderate risk of ARMD development. The overall risk of moderate vision loss was reduced by19% at five years
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