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A Prospective Study

William G. Christen, ScD; Simin Liu, MD; Robert J. Glynn, ScD; J. Michael Gaziano, MD; Julie E. Buring, ScD

Arch Ophthalmol. 2008;126(1):102-109.

Objective  To examine in prospective data the relation between dietary intake of carotenoids and vitamins C and E and the risk of cataract in women.

Design  Dietary intake was assessed at baseline in 39 876 female health professionals by using a detailed food frequency questionnaire. A total of 35 551 women provided detailed information on antioxidant nutrient intake from food and supplements and were free of a diagnosis of cataract. The main outcome measure was cataract, defined as an incident, age-related lens opacity responsible for a reduction in best-corrected visual acuity in the worse eye to 20/30 or worse based on self-report confirmed by medical record review.

Results  A total of 2031 cases of incident cataract were confirmed during a mean of 10 years of follow-up. Comparing women in the extreme quintiles, the multivariate relative risk of cataract was 0.82 (95% confidence interval, 0.71-0.95; test for trend, P  = .04) for lutein/zeaxanthin and 0.86 (95% confidence interval, 0.74-1.00; test for trend, P  = .03) for vitamin E from food and supplements.

Conclusion  In these prospective observational data from a large cohort of female health professionals, higher dietary intakes of lutein/zeaxanthin and vitamin E from food and supplements were associated with significantly decreased risks of cataract.

Author Affiliations: Divisions of Preventive Medicine (Drs Christen, Liu, Glynn, Gaziano, and Buring), Cardiovascular Medicine (Dr Gaziano), and Aging (Drs Gaziano and Buring), Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention (Dr Buring), Harvard Medical School; Departments of Nutrition (Dr Liu), Biostatistics (Dr Glynn), and Epidemiology (Dr Buring), Harvard School of Public Health; and Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System (Dr Gaziano); Boston, Massachusetts.

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