Vitamin C supplements may raise cataract risk

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Vitamin C supplements may raise cataract risk.

Consumer Health Digest #09-52, December 24, 2009

A study of women who were followed over an 8-year period has found

that vitamin C supplementation, particularly in high dose and long

duration, may increase the risk of age-related cataracts. The study

included 24,593 women aged 49-83 years from the Swedish Mammography

Cohort (follow-up from September 1997 to October 2005). The

researchers used a self-administered questionnaire to collect

information on dietary supplement use and lifestyle factors.

[Rautiainen S and others. Vitamin C supplements and the risk of

age-related cataract: a population-based prospective cohort study in

women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Nov 18, 2009. Epub

ahead of print] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19923367 The study

does not prove cause-and-effect, but because high-dose vitamin C

provides no proven benefit for the general population, the findings

provide further reason to avoid vitamin C megadosage.