Association Of Dietary Intake Of N-3 Fatty Acid And Exudative Age Related Macular Degeneration In Japan

Abstract

Purpose: : To examine overall diet quality in relation to exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in Japan.

Methods: : This case-control study included 114 advanced AMD patients from the University of Tokyo Hospital and 700 unrelated general population controls. Participants were Japanese and aged 51-76 years. Dietary intake was assessed using a brief self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ).

Results: : In the AMD patient group, the mean intake of protein was 39.4mg/1000Kcal/day, lipid was 28.1mg/1000Kcal/day, cholesterol was 208.2mg/1000Kcal/day, zinc was 4.40mg/1000Kcal/day, β-carotene was 2.10mg/1000Kcal/day, vitamin C was 67.9mg/1000Kcal/day, vitamin B12 was 6.42μg/1000Kcal/day and folic acid was 207.5μg/1000Kcal/day. The intake of these nutrients in the AMD patients were not significantly different compared with the control group. However, the AMD group reported higher consumption of retinol (51.9μg/1000Kcal/day) compared to the control (p=0.06) and lower consumption of n3 fatty acid (0.24g/1000Kcal/day) (p<0.001) when compared with the control group.

Conclusions: : These results implicate that high consumption of retinol and low consumption of n3 fatty acid may be associated with the increased risk of AMD in Japan. This is an interim report, and further investigations are warranted.

Keywords: age-related macular degeneration • nutritional factors • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: risk factor assessment