Seeking a Better Way to Fight Eye Disease

Adding components found in fish oil doesn’t improve a pill that may help to slow down a blinding eye disease. But a new study found potential benefit in tweaking the pills’ contents in other ways. The study included about 1,600 people. All had macular degeneration in at least one eye. A supplement containing vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, copper and zinc has been shown to slow how rapidly the disease gets worse. The new study assigned people to receive those pills plus one of four other pills. They contained the vegetable pigments lutein and zeaxanthin, the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA, all four, or none of the four (placebo). Overall, none of these extra pills helped to slow the disease. But some people received the original formula pill in a version that left out beta-carotene.