Vitamin E and Supplements Offer Eye Neuroprotection – Myth or Reality?
Aristeidis Chandrinos *
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Division of Optics and Optometry, Laboratory of Optical Metrology, School of Health and Welfare, University of West Attica - Egaleo Park Campus, Athens, Greece.
Dorotheos Tzamouranis
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Division of Optics and Optometry, Laboratory of Optical Metrology, School of Health and Welfare, University of West Attica - Egaleo Park Campus, Athens, Greece.
Stavroula Kakoura
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Division of Optics and Optometry, Laboratory of Optical Metrology, School of Health and Welfare, University of West Attica - Egaleo Park Campus, Athens, Greece.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Background: Several studies suggested that nutrition might have an effect on eye health. Although exposure to nutrients is ubiquitous, on the other hand without it, we generally cannot survive and an exposure too high or too low causes health problems. Vitamins are a good example and the ubiquitous exposure to vitamins has led to many epidemiological studies for many diseases, including glaucoma.
Abstract: Leading causes of vision loss include several eye conditions such as cataract and glaucoma. The role of nutritional supplementation to prevent the progression of ocular disease is of great interest to health care professionals. It is recognized that the crystalline lens and retina suffer oxidative damage and the most protective agents are anti-oxidant vitamins A, C and E. The Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS), found that supplementation with vitamins C and E, reduced the risk of developing various ocular diseases. The RDA for vitamin E is 15 mg/day α-tocopherol for both women and men. Vitamin E exists naturally in nuts and seeds, in addition to dark leafy vegetables. In a recent study reported lower plasma levels of vitamin E in POAG subjects.
Conclusion: In conclusion, exposure to nutrients although is ubiquitous, without it, in general we cannot survive. Conflicting evidence is presented for vitamins A and E in prevention of ocular disease. A number of epidemiological studies showed an increased risk of nuclear or cortical cataract in people with low blood levels of vitamin E. Furthermore, a number of studies suggested that nutrition might have an effect on the intraocular pressure (IOP) or glaucoma, arbitrated by oxidative stress.
Keywords: Glaucoma, vitamin Ε, antioxidant supplements, crystalline lens, oxidative stress, cataract