Relation of Dietary Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Smoking to Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Elderly Men in Korea

This study was conducted to investigate the relation between the consumption of fruit and vegetables and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by using the data from the Korea Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010–2012). We included elderly men aged ≥65 y and excluded participants diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes or diabetic retinopathy or who reported taking medications for diabetes or reported a history of cancer. A total of 872 participants were eligible for further analysis. In multiple logistic regression analysis, the OR for the highest tertile of fruit and vegetable intake was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.45, 1.65) after adjusting for age, BMI, residential area, educational level, family income, smoking status, alcohol consumption, dietary supplement use, and total energy intake. We examined whether this association was modified by smoking status. An inverse association was observed for AMD in individuals with the highest tertile of fruit and vegetable intake compared with those with the lowest tertile of intake in smokers only (OR: 0.22; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.93; P-trend = 0.0317). These results suggest that higher consumption of fruit and vegetables that contain antioxidant components may have a protective effect against AMD. This effect is more evident among smokers. (This study was supported by the Brain Korea 21 Plus.)
Source: Advances in Nutrition - Category: Nutrition Authors: Tags: Community, Public Health, and Global Nutrition Source Type: research