Assessment of the AREDS2 double-blind clinical trial on nutrients for risk mitigation of age-related macular degeneration

ABSTRACT: Results have been released from the US government funded AREDS2 study on the effect of nutrients (antioxidants, vitamins and minerals) on the progression of age-related macular degeneration. The results showed mixed outcomes on a number of issues but supported the primary AREDS formulation. The issues under scrutiny included the relative impacts of certain supplements in comparison to the previous AREDS trial, the effect of the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, and the effect of omega-3 fatty acids. The trial was significant because it was a randomised double-blind clinical trial on a large-scale and tested various well known supplements identified from anecdotal evidence and investigated in previous small-scale trials. The study results were also important as it was perhaps the most significant rigorous study to date on the subject. In this paper, we describe the background to the study, review the published results and discuss implications.