AREDS2 formula more effective at slowing AMD at 10 years
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A dietary supplement that includes the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin helped slow progression of age-related macular degeneration.
According to 10-year results from AREDS2, conducted by the National Institutes of Health, a new formula that replaced beta-carotene from the original AREDS formula with lutein and zeaxanthin reduced the risk for AMD progression in addition to being safer because of a lower risk for lung cancer.
“Because beta-carotene increased the risk of lung cancer for current smokers in two NIH-supported studies, our goal with AREDS2 was to create an equally effective supplement formula that could be used by anyone, whether or not they smoke,” Emily Chew, MD, director of the Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications at the National Eye Institute, said in an NIH press release. “This 10-year data confirms that not only is the new formula safer, it’s actually better at slowing AMD progression.”
AREDS2 began in 2006, and after 5 years, researchers found that the new formulation did not increase the risk for lung cancer and could reduce the risk for AMD progression by about 26%, according to the release. The latest results come from an additional 5 years of observation in 3,883 participants who received the AREDS2 formulation.
After 10 years, participants who were originally assigned to receive the lutein and zeaxanthin formulation had a 20% reduced risk for progression to late AMD compared with participants who originally received the beta-carotene formulation.
“These results confirmed that switching our formula from beta-carotene to lutein and zeaxanthin was the right choice,” Chew said.
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