Eyes Wide Open: Eye Health Supplements

An old proverb said that our eyes are the window to our souls. But in todays supplement industry, eye care is often overlooked as a "niche" category unrelated to overall health.

Yet, traditional practices in medicine, along with new research, may give pause to the isolation of the eyes within our approach to support healthy aging. For instance, a good physician will inspect the eyes during a physical examination, as many observations of the eye are indicative of health conditions affecting other organs; for example, liver jaundice is initially diagnosed by a yellow tint of the sclera (white part) of the eye.

Research continues to stress the importance of eyes as a window to health, with key mitigating factors being both our genetics and the environmentboth exerting strong influence over how well the eyes (not to mention our bodies) age over time.

Diabetic retinopathy, which is a major cause of blindness, remains one of the most prevalent complications of diabetes, affecting 29 percent of the diabetic population in the U.S.  Yet, 78 percent of people with retinopathy in the AGES-R Study in Iceland were non-diabetic.1  In this study, non-diabetic retinopathy was significantly correlated with microalbuminuria, suggesting a key link between kidney function and eye health.

In a European study with more than 4,000 subjects, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) was present in nearly 40 percent of the population, with a very strong correlation between AMD and expression of the genetic variant ARMS2.2 This relationship was further confounded by cigarette smoking. Findings from another study mirrored these results, with the authors noting the data suggests a more important role for genetic factors than environmental factors" in the development of this well-defined subtype of AMD.

In several large studies, a strong inverse relationship has been shown between macular content of carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin and AMD, most recently in the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.

Looking at the overall data, a simple paradigm emerges that is repeated in intervention and longitudinal studies outside of the eye care field as well. Environmental and genetic factors cause the body to inadequately deal with chronic inflammation and oxidative stress, which as we age, manifest in health issues that can adversely affect the eyes, among other organs. In this paradigm, it is easy to see why compounds generally regarded as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents might be effective ways to stave off issues.

Like many other real-world outcomes, it is not all so simply wrapped up with a simple paradigm or theory.

INSIDER's Report "Supplement Perspectives: A New Look at Eye Health" investigates new delivery forms, exciting ingredient research and tips on marketing in the e-gadget age.