All About Cataracts

Drinking coffee throughout the day may not only keep you alert, it may reduce your risk of cataracts.

That’s the conclusion of researchers who presented the findings of a new study at the 2010 annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), held May 1-6 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (Baltimore, Md.) presented data that suggest caffeine may inhibit oxidative changes in the human lens that can lead to cataract formation.

The investigators conducted their study on the lenses of mice and rats. In the first part of the study, lenses from euthanized mice were exposed to UV light in a medium with and without caffeine. In the second part, live rats were fed a diet with and without caffeine.

In both cases, caffeine was found to protect the lens from oxidative damage associated with cataract formation.

The researchers noted that this protective effect of caffeine has not been reported before and further studies are underway to better understand the mechanism and the significance of the findings to human eyes.

Ed. note: The findings of this study support other research that suggests antioxidants found in a healthy diet and in many eye vitamins and vision supplements may prevent or slow oxidative changes in the human lens that can lead to the development of cataracts.

About ARVO: The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology is the world’s largest eye and vision research organization with more than 12, 500 members from more than 80 countries. Membership is ARVO includes ophthalmologists, PhDs, optometrists and other vision researchers. For more about ARVO, visit www.arvo.org.

The connection between nutrition and eye health is receiving plenty of study these days, as researchers are looking for ways people can lower their risk of age-related vision loss with eye vitamins or other nutritional means.

A new study published in the February 2009 issue of Current Eye Research suggests vitamin C may be a key to lowering the risk of the most common type of cataracts.

Researchers in Iran compared blood plasma levels of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in age- and sex-matched populations of people with age-related cataracts and those without cataracts. Analysis of the data revealed that plasma levels of vitamin C among the subjects with cataracts were significantly lower than plasma levels of the antioxidant vitamin among those without cataracts.

The study also found that plasma levels of ascorbic acid declined with age among men, but not among women. Also, plasma levels of vitamin C were higher among people living in rural settings versus in cities, and women tended to have higher levels of this antioxidant vitamin in their blood than men did.

The researchers concluded that antioxidant vitamins, particularly vitamin C, “can help with the prevention of cataracts, which is a major health service burden in many countries.”

Vitamin C and other antioxidant vitamins are found in many fruits and vegetables, as well as in most vision supplements.