Vitamins & Nutritional Supplements for Diabetic Retinopathy

Free radicals have been implicated in the development and progression of several forms of retinopathy. Retrolental fibroplasia, a retinopathy that occurs in some premature infants who have been exposed to high levels of oxygen, is an example of free radical-induced damage to the retina. In an analysis of the best published trials, large amounts of vitamin E were found to reduce the incidence of severe retinopathy in premature infants by over 50%. Some of the evidence supporting the use of vitamin E in the prevention of retrolental fibroplasia comes from trials that have used 100 IU of vitamin E per 2.2 pounds of body weight in the form of oral supplementation. Use of large amounts of vitamin E in the prevention of retrolental fibroplasia requires the supervision of a pediatrician.

Vitamin E has also been found to prevent retinopathy in people with a rare genetic disease known as abetalipoproteinemia. People with this disorder lack a protein that transports fat-soluble nutrients, and can therefore develop deficiencies of vitamin E and other nutrients.

In one trial, vitamin E failed to improve vision in people with diabetic retinopathy, although in a double-blind trial, people with type 1 diabetes given very high amounts of vitamin E were reported to show a normalization of blood flow to the retina. This finding has made researchers hopeful that vitamin E might help prevent diabetic retinopathy. However, no long-term trials have yet been conducted with vitamin E in the actual prevention of diabetic retinopathy...