Rationale: Age-related macular degeneration is the most common cause of blindness in the industrialized world. Macular pigment is hypothesized to protect against the vision loss in this disease. Objective: 1. To study if the macular pigment optical density can be raised by lutein supplementation. 2. To study if lutein supplementation can stop or slow down the decrease in visual functions. Study design: Randomized, double blind, placebo controlled intervention study. Study population: Eighty patients with early signs of age-related macular degeneration Intervention: The intervention group (40 subjects) receives 10 mg lutein per day, while the control group (40 subjects) gets a placebo.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
TRIPLE
Enrollment
80
Lutein supplement, 10 mg daily
Placebo
University Eye Clinic Maastricht
Maastricht, Netherlands
Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester
Manchester, United Kingdom
Macular Pigment Optical Density
Time frame: Baseline, 4 months, 8 months, 12 months
Visual Acuity
Time frame: Baseline, 4 months, 8 months, 12 months
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