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Do antioxidants help macular degeneration? A study shows they have no real benefit. Age-related macular degeneration is the commonest cause of blindness in Australia. For some reason, the macula – the most sensitive part of the retina at the back of the eye, which receives central vision – becomes progressively damaged. The result is you can't read or see detail in front of you. It would be great to be able to prevent macular degeneration, and many people have placed a lot of hope on antioxidants. But a recent Melbourne-based study into diet has unfortunately not shown benefit. They reviewed evidence from 150,000 people, 2,000 of whom developed age-related macular degeneration, and looked at whether there was any benefit from increased intakes of vitamins C and E as well as betacarotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, which are pigments that are found in the macula. The bottom line was that there was no evidence of benefit. So if you want to try to minimise your chances of macular degeneration as you age, what's the current advice? Well, the main change you can make is that if you smoke, stop: because that's toxic to the retina. Other than that no-one's too sure at the moment.
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