A large study of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients has found that lifestyle factors such as smoking and a diet including fresh vegetables and fish impact disease progression in those who are genetically disposed to the condition.
Published in Ophthalmology, the EU-funded Eye-Risk Consortium’s study of more than 17,000 Europeans took into account 49 genetic variants known to be associated with AMD. While all subjects benefitted from a healthy lifestyle, those with a total high genetic risk score (GRS) for AMD showed the strongest risk reduction of late AMD, said researchers.
Researchers acknowledged that previous studies have reported that common variants in the complement pathway explain 57% of the heritable risk of AMD and that their study underscored this contribution to the overall high GRS. However, persons with AMD showed a lower intake of vegetables, fish, and fruit and higher rates of smoking, with a ‘more unfavourable lifestyle’ almost doubling the risk of late AMD, they said.
Since oxidative stress is known to be part of the pathogenesis of AMD, researchers said an explanation for these findings is that a combination of not smoking and a diet including plenty of fish and vegetables rich in antioxidants can help avoid progression to AMD even in those who are genetically predisposed to it.
Full study: https://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(20)31119-2/fulltext?dgcid=raven_jbs_etoc_email
