Nutrient intake and cataract extraction in women: a prospective study.

Objective: To examine prospectively the association between dietary intake of vitamins C and E, carotene, and riboflavin and cataract extraction in women.

Methods: Prospective cohort study beginning in 1980 with eight years of follow up. Methods: 11 states of the United States. Methods: Female registered nurses who were 45 to 67 years of age. 50,828 women were included in 1980 and others were added as they became 45 years of age. Methods: Incidence of extraction of senile cataracts.

Results: 493 cataracts were extracted during 470,302 person years of follow up. Intake of carotene and vitamin A was inversely associated with cataract: in multivariate analyses, women in the highest fifth of total vitamin A intake (excluding supplements) had a 39% lower risk of cataract relative to women in the lowest fifth (relative risk 0.61; 95% confidence interval 0.45 to 0.81). Neither riboflavin nor dietary vitamins E or C were associated with cataract in a multivariate analysis. Among specific food items spinach (rather than carrots, the greatest source of beta carotene) was most consistently associated with a lower relative risk. The risk of cataract was 45% lower among women who used vitamin C supplements for 10 or more years(relative risk 0.55 (0.32 to 0.96)), but no association was noted for multivitamin intake.

Conclusions: Dietary carotenoids, although not necessarily beta carotene, and long term vitamin C supplementation may decrease the risk of cataracts severe enough to require extraction.