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Prospective Study of Intake of Fruits, Vegetables, Vitamins, and Carotenoidsand Risk of Age-Related Maculopathy

2004; American Medical Association; Volume: 122; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1001/archopht.122.6.883

1538-3601

Eunyoung Cho, Johanna M. Seddon, Bernard Rosner, Walter C. Willett, Susan E. Hankinson,

Retinal and Optic Conditions

Objective To examine the intake of antioxidant vitamins and carotenoids as wellas fruits and vegetables in relation to the development of age-related maculopathy(ARM). Methods We conducted a prospective follow-up study of women in the Nurses' HealthStudy and men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. We followed 77 562women and 40 866 men who were at least 50 years of age and had no diagnosisof ARM or cancer at baseline for up to 18 years for women and up to 12 yearsfor men. Fruit and vegetable intakes were assessed with a validated semiquantitativefood-frequency questionnaire up to 5 times for women and up to 3 times formen during follow-up. Results A total of 464 (329 women and 135 men) incident cases of early ARM and316 (217 women and 99men) cases of neovascular ARM, all with visual loss of20/30 or worse due primarily to ARM, were diagnosed during follow-up. Fruitintake was inversely associated with the risk of neovascular ARM. Participantswho consumed 3 or more servings per day of fruits had a pooled multivariaterelative risk of 0.64 (95% confidence interval, 0.44-0.93; P value for trend = .004) compared with those who consumed less than1.5 servings per day. The results were similar in women and men. However,intakes of vegetables, antioxidant vitamins, or carotenoids were not stronglyrelated to either early or neovascular ARM. Conclusion These data suggest a protective role for fruit intake on the risk ofneovascular ARM.