Can nutritional supplements help treat AMD?

13 July 2018
Summer 2018
AMD Public health

Radhika Holmstöm examines the case for antioxidant and vitamin supplements preventing, or slowing the progress of, AMD.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) affects more than 600,000 people in the UK, mostly those over the age of 50. It is estimated that one in every 200 people in the UK at 60 and one in five by the age of 90 are affected by the condition (Macular Society, 2017a).

Patients routinely ask for advice on the benefits of taking supplements. Despite some evidence that supplementation can slow the progress of AMD, NICE guidelines do not currently recommend it. Why is this, and what should you advise?

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