A combination of two B vitamins and folic acid appears to protect women against age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, according to a study in the Feb. 23 Archives of Internal Medicine.

 

“This is the first randomized trial to indicate a possible benefit of folic acid, B-6 and B-12 vitamin supplements in reducing the risks of age-related macular degeneration,” says study author William Christen, an associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

 

For the study, Christen and colleagues analyzed data from a cardiovascular disease trial involving more than 5,200 women over 40. None of the women had macular degeneration at the beginning of the study, which lasted more than 7 years.

 

The women were randomly assigned to take either a combination of B6, B12 and folic acid supplements or a placebo. When the study ended, there were 55 cases of age-related macular degeneration in the vitamin group and 82 in the placebo group.

 

Women who took the vitamins had a 41 percent lower risk of developing macular degeneration. The researchers said that even though the study involved only women, the finding could apply to men as well.

 

“From a public health perspective, this is particularly important because persons with early AMD are at increased risk of developing advanced AMD, the leading cause of severe, irreversible vision loss,” Christen said.

 

More than 6 million Americans suffer from AMD, which causes a graded loss of central vision. There are two types of the disease: dry and wet. Blindness from dry AMD occurs progressively over the course of many years, light-sensitive macular cells starting to stop working. And wet AMD (advanced AMD) involves rapidity of vision loss because of the development of abnormal blood vessels under the macula, triggering leakage of blood and fluids.