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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #135224
Title: LONG-TERM INTAKE OF VITAMINS AND CAROTENOIDS AND ODDS OF EARLY AGE-RELATED CORTICAL AND POSTERIOR SUBCAPSULAR LENS OPACITIES

Author
item TAYLOR, ALLEN - HNRCA
item JACQUES, PAUL - HNRCA
item CHYLACK, LEO - BRIGHAM & WOMEN'S CHANNIN
item HANKINSON, SUSAN - BRIGHAM & WOMEN'S CHANNIN
item KHU, PATRICIA - BRIGHAM & WOMEN'S
item ROGERS, GAIL - HNRCA
item FRIEND, JUDITH - BRIGHAM & WOMEN'S
item TUNG, WILLIAM - BRIGHAM & WOMEN'S
item WOLFE, JOHN - BRIGHAM & WOMEN'S
item WILLETT, WALTER - HARVARD MED SCHL
item PADHYE, NITA - CENTER FOR OPHTHALMIC RES

Submitted to: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/12/2001
Publication Date: 3/12/2002
Citation: Taylor, A., Jacques, P., Chylack, L.T., Hankinson, S.E., Khu, P.M., Rogers, G., Friend, J., Tung, W., Wolfe, J.K., Willett, W.C., Padhye, N. 2002. Long-term intake of vitamins and carotenoids and odds of early age-related cortical and posterior subcapsular lens opacities. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 75(3):540-549.

Interpretive Summary: Cataract afflicts a majority of the elderly. Expenditures for cataract extractions account for the largest line item in the Medicare budget. It is estimated that if cataract could be delayed by 10 years, it would eliminate the need for one half of the cataract extractions. It is known that cataract is due in part to the accumulation in the aging lens of oxidatively damaged proteins. We determined if the risk for two of the three majors forms of cataract could be diminished by intake of various nutrients. We found that intake of elevated levels of vitamin C is associated with decreased risk for one type of cataract in women under 60 years of age and that intake of elevated levels of carotenoids is related to diminished risk for another type of cataract in women who did not smoke.

Technical Abstract: BACKGROUND: Proper nutrition appears to protect against cataracts. Few studies have related nutrition to the odds of developing cortical or posterior subcapsular (PSC) cataracts. OBJECTIVE: We assessed the relation between usual nutrient intakes and age-related cortical and PSC lens opacities. DESIGN: We studied 492 nondiabetic women aged 53-73 y from the Nurses' Health Study cohort who were without previously diagnosed cataracts. Usual nutrient intake was calculated as the average intake from 5 food-frequency questionnaires collected over a 13-15-y period before the eye examination. Duration of vitamin supplement use was determined from 7 questionnaires collected during the same period. We defined cortical opacities as grade >/=0.5 and subcapsular opacities as grade >/=0.3 of the Lens Opacities Classification System III. RESULTS: Some lenses had more than one opacity. No nutrient measure was related to prevalence of opacities in the full sample, but significant interactions were seen between age and vitamin C intake (P=0.02) for odds of cortical opacities and between smoking status and folate (P=0.02), alpha-carotene (P=0.02), beta-carotene (P=0.005), and total carotenoids (P=0.02) for odds of PSC opacities. For women aged <60 y, a vitamin C intake >/=362 mg/d was associated with a 57% lower odds ratio (0.43; 95% CI: 0.2, 0.93) of developing a cortical cataract than was an intake <140 mg/d, and use of vitamin C supplements for >/=10 y was associated with a 60% lower odds ratio (0.40; 0.18, 0.87) than was no vitamin C supplement use. Prevalence of PSC opacities was related to total carotenoid intake in women who never smoked (P=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Our results support a role for vitamin C in diminishing the risk of cortical cataracts in women aged <60 y and for carotenoids in diminishing the risk of PSC cataracts in women who have never smoked.