Dietary Macronutrient Intake and Five-Year Incident Cataract: The Blue Mountains Eye Study

Townend, Bradley S.; Townend, Marcia E.; Flood, Victoria; Burlutsky, George; Rochtchina, Elena; Wang, Jie Jin; Mitchell, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.ajo.2007.03.006

« Previous Next »American Journal of Ophthalmology
Volume 143, Issue 6 , Pages 932-939.e1, June 2007

Dietary Macronutrient Intake and Five-Year Incident Cataract: The Blue Mountains Eye Study

Bradley S. Townend
- Centre for Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology and the Westmead Millennium Institute, Westmead, Australia
Marcia E. Townend
- Centre for Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology and the Westmead Millennium Institute, Westmead, Australia
Victoria Flood
- Centre for Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology and the Westmead Millennium Institute, Westmead, Australia
- Human Nutrition Unit, Department of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences, University of Sydney, Westmead, Australia
George Burlutsky
- Centre for Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology and the Westmead Millennium Institute, Westmead, Australia
Elena Rochtchina
- Centre for Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology and the Westmead Millennium Institute, Westmead, Australia
Jie Jin Wang
- Centre for Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology and the Westmead Millennium Institute, Westmead, Australia
Paul Mitchell
- Centre for Vision Research, Department of Ophthalmology and the Westmead Millennium Institute, Westmead, Australia
- Inquiries to Paul Mitchell, Centre for Vision Research, University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital, Hawkesbury Rd, Westmead, NSW, 2145, Australia

Accepted 8 March 2007. published online 13 April 2007.

Purpose

To investigate the relationships between dietary macronutrient intake at baseline and the five-year incidence of the three main types of cataract in older people.

Design

Population-based cohort study.

Methods

settings: An urban community near Sydney, Australia. study population: The Blue Mountains Eye Study (BMES) examined 3,654 predominantly Caucasian participants aged 49+ years during 1992 to 1994, and then 2,335 survivors (71.5%) after five years. Of these 2,335 subjects, 1988 (85%) completed a Willett-derived food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) at baseline. observation procedures: A 145-item FFQ was used to assess nutrient intakes and lens photography was used to assess the presence of cataract at both time points. main outcome measures: Incidence of cortical, nuclear, and posterior subcapsular (PSC) cataract was assessed via lens photographic grading following the Wisconsin cataract grading method.

Results

After adjusting for multiple known cataract risk factors, higher dietary intakes of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) were associated with a reduced incidence of nuclear cataract. The odds ratio (OR) for subjects in the highest quintile of intake compared to those in the lowest quintile was 0.58 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.35 to 0.97), P_trend = .027. Similarly, for PSC cataract, higher dietary intakes of protein were protective (OR 0.28; 95% CI 0.10 to 0.76), P_trend = .015. Dietary macronutrient intake was not associated with incident cortical cataract.

Conclusions

Higher dietary intakes of n-3 PUFA may decrease the five-year risk of nuclear cataract, whereas higher dietary intakes of protein may decrease risk for PSC cataract.