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Vitreous Body Research Leads to MacuHealth’s Latest Supplement
Because of the amount of research on the retina, there’s an abundance of evidence showing that nourishing the eyes with antioxidants known as carotenoids, specifically Lutein, Zeaxanthin and Meso-Zeaxanthin, enhances a patient’s vision and lowers the risk of developing ocular diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). These studies have led to the development of MacuHealth, the groundbreaking supplement proven to help manage the symptoms of AMD.
But when compared to the other parts of the eye, there isn’t a lot of research on its largest component: the vitreous body. It’s a colorless, gel-like area made up of water, hyaluronic acid and collagen fibers between the lens and the retina that maintains the eye’s shape and helps transmit light to the retina.
Existing research shows that the vitreous needs specific antioxidants to protect it against oxidative stress and disease. A lack of these nutrients or other risk factors, including diabetes and myopia, can cause collagen fibers inside the vitreous to clump together and cast shadows that appear as dots, circles and squiggly lines on the retina. These shadows are floaters, and in a recent survey, 76 percent of participants reported seeing them, with a third stating they were moderate to severe.2
But in 2021, a group of researchers with the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland, Waterford Institute of Technology, led by Dr. Emmanuel Ankamah and Professor John Nolan, published the Floater Intervention Study (FLIES).1 In this double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, patients were given an antioxidant formula for a six-month period. Over 67 percent of participants recognized an improvement in floater symptoms along with these results:
- 47% improvement in daily visual experience
- 46% decrease in visual discomfort
- 22% decrease in floater area
- 9% improvement in contrast sensitivity
MacuHealth’s latest product, VitreousHealth, is based on the antioxidant formula used in the FLIES study, and it’s the first safe, natural and scientifically proven solution shown to reduce the symptoms of floaters. And as research on the eye continues to ramp up, MacuHealth will continue to develop state-of-the-art supplements that care for patients' vision.
References:
1. Ankamah et al. 2021. doi.org/10.1167/tvst.10.12.19
2. Webb, Blake F et al. “Prevalence of vitreous floaters in a community sample of smartphone users.” International journal of ophthalmology vol. 6,3 402-5. 18 Jun. 2013, doi:10.3980/j.issn.2222-3959.2013.0
