In the journals

B vitamins may protect against macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the main cause of severe and irreversible vision loss in Americans ages 60 and over. About 1.5 million people in the United States have advanced AMD, and another 7.3 million have an early form of the disease that involves little or no vision loss but can progress to the advanced stage. There are some treatments for advanced AMD, but until now the only known way to reliably reduce your risk for developing the disorder has been to stop smoking. (According to the National Eye Institute, some research also suggests a link between obesity and AMD progression.) But a study has found that a daily supplement of folic acid (vitamin B₉) and vitamins B₆ and B₁₂ reduces the risk of developing AMD in women at high risk for cardiovascular problems.

These findings, published in the Feb. 23, 2009, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, come from an ongoing trial at Harvard called the Women's Antioxidant and Folic Acid Cardiovascular Study (WAFACS). The results stand in sharp contrast to WAFACS findings published in 2008, which showed that the same supplement did not help prevent heart attacks or strokes, even though it lowered blood levels of homocysteine, an amino acid once thought to be linked to cardiovascular disease. Homocysteine has also been implicated in AMD risk.