Previous research showed that women have a higher risk for Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). Gender is a definitive risk factor for AMD, according to the National Eye Institute , with women having a higher preponderance of the disease.
A new study has unveiled why women have an increased risk for AMD, and how hormone replacement therapy reduces that risk.
According to the study, estrogen (a hormone that helps in the development and maintenance of female characteristics) becomes deficient in women after menopause, and this deficiency makes women more likely to suffer AMD. The study suggests that hormone replacement therapy in women after menopause can help cut the risk of wet macular degeneration, but what is unexpected is that this therapy also increases the risk of dry AMD in women.
The findings of this study reinforce the effectiveness of nutritional therapy for the prevention of AMD in women, because treatment with nutritional supplements is not only effective in reducing the risk of the disease, it's also substantially safer than hormone replacement therapy.
The study: Facts and Findings
The study, entitled Menopausal and Reproductive Factors and Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration , was published in the April 2008 issue of the professional journal Archives of Ophthalmology .
The researchers looked at the Nurses' Health Study, and noted--in 74,996 postmenopausal women--certain factors related to estrogen, as for example, past use of oral contraceptive medicines, postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy, and so on. They noted that 554 of the women developed early or dry AMD and 334 developed more advanced or wet AMD.
The researchers found that the risk for wet or advanced AMD was 48% lower in women who received hormone replacement therapy after their menopause. However, there was a 34% increase in the risk for early or dry AMD in women who received hormone replacement therapy, an unexpected negative adverse result.
The study has therefore unveiled that hormone therapy in postmenopausal women reduces the risk of advanced or wet AMD, but it can also cause a substantial increase in the risk of early or dry AMD.
What's Important in this Study
The researchers suggested that oxidative stress plays an important role in the degeneration of retina's epithelium. In women, estrogen may have a protective role against the oxidative stress on the retina and thus this hormone helps promote the survival of the retina's epithelium. According to the researchers, various compounds of estrogen work as potent antioxidants, and act against oxidative stress.
Therefore, it becomes evident from this study that after menopause in women, there is a deficiency in estrogen, and this in turn suggests that there is deficiency in antioxidants in postmenopausal women. This antioxidant deficiency increases the oxidative stress on the retina, and thus women after menopause become prone to AMD.
What's Next
In postmenopausal women, when hormone replacement therapy lacks safety, nutritional therapy seems to be a justified option in reducing the risk of AMD.
Nutritional supplements act as scavengers of free radicals, thus reducing the oxidative damage to the retina; and advocating these supplements is safer compared to other treatment options, such as hormone replacement therapy.
Apart from that, other risk factors for AMD--cigarette smoking, obesity, heart disease etc-should also be taken care of, because working on these factors is important for reducing the risk of AMD in women.
Nutritional Supplements: They Fight for You
Nutrients, with their antioxidant properties, can fight against oxidative stress and reduce the risk of AMD in woman. Additional studies substantiating the benefit of nutritional supplements to treat macular degeneration include these:
A study by US researchers suggests that diets rich in lutein and zeaxanthin, two nutrients with strong antioxidant properties, helps prevent intermediate AMD in women aged below 75 years. The study has been published in Archives of Ophthalmology . In w omen younger than 75 years and without any history of chronic diseases, a stable dietary intake of lutein and zeaxanthin could substantially cut the risk of AMD, the researchers found in the study. Carrots, squash, peaches, papaya, broccoli, spinach and peas are some of the dietary sources for lutein and zeaxanthin.
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that consuming smaller amount of refined carbohydrate in diet can substantially benefit persons who are at risk of advanced AMD. The study involved 3977 participants aged 55-80 years; 58% of the participants were women. The researchers suggested that approximately 7.8% of the advanced AMD cases could be prevented if the participants of the study could consume low-carbohydrate diets. Nutritional supplements--which include fruits, vegetables, fish etc--have the potential to replace the dietary carbohydrate content. These supplements can be effective in reducing the carbohydrate intake and thus they can significantly cut the risk of advanced AMD.
Another study suggests that dietary supplementation with beta carotene, vitamins C and E, and zinc can substantially reduce the risk of AMD in elderly men and women. The study, which has been published in Journal of the American Medical Association , looked at 5836 persons, who were at the risk of AMD, and found that high dietary intake of beta carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, and zinc could reduce--by 35%--the risk of AMD in the study population.
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