Vitamin D is not only essential for maintaining healthy bones and teeth, but it also helps protect women against age-related macular degeneration, a new study finds.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a degenerative eye disease that affects the central part of the retina. It is the most common cause of blindness in the elderly.
In the study, researchers from university of Buffalo, New York, which involved 1313 women, found that the participants who aged below 75 with highest vitamin D intake were 59 percent less likely to develop the eye disease than those with the lowest.
However, these results did not apply to vitamin D through sunlight. The association was only seen in women who got the vitamin through foods and supplements.
It was discovered the top food sources among the participants were fish, milk, fortified cereal and fortified margarine.
”More studies are needed to confirm this association as well as to better understand the potential interaction between vitamin D status and genetic and lifestyle factors with respect to risk of early age-related macular degeneration,” said led researcher Dr Amy Millen as written in the journal Archives of Ophthalmology.