Vitamin C may be inversely related to cataract risk

According to recent study data, higher vitamin C intake may be inversely associated with the risk of cataract.

Led by Dr Lin Wei (Department of Ophthalmology, The Second Artiliery General Hospital, Beijing, China), researchers performed a meta-analysis in order to evaluate the available evidence from epidemiological studies looking at whether vitamin C is a protective factor for age-related cataract. Evaluated studies were identified using PubMed and Webscience and the team used the random effect model to combine results.

A total of 23 relevant articles were included in the meta-analysis, comprising 15 articles with 20 studies of vitamin C intake and 8 articles with 10 studies of serum ascorbate. Significant associations between cataract and vitamin C intake were found in America and Asia, and a significant association between cataract and serum ascorbate intake was found in general. Further, inverse associations were found between serum ascorbate intake and nuclear cataract and posterior subcapsular cataract.

Based on their results, the researchers concluded that vitamin C and serum ascorbate intake may be inversely related to the risk of cataract and therefore, vitamin C intake should be encouraged for the primary prevention of cataract.

To view the abstract visit Acta Ophthalmologica’s website here.