A new study from researchers at the National Defense Medical Center of Taipei provides further evidence that lower consumption of dietary calcium might increase the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in older adults in the United States.
Tell me about the study.
This cross-sectional retrospective study reviewed publicly available data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) of 5,119 participants with dietary evaluations and assessments for AMD. Of this number, 391 participants had AMD and 4,728 did not.
Dietary nutrition was assessed via a 24-hour recall interview along with a second follow-up interview conducted between 3 and 10 days later.
What did they find?
The study found that after adjusting for age, gender, race, smoking use, and medical history, dietary calcium was significantly inversely associated with AMD.
Anything else to know?
The study authors noted that over half of the study participants did not consume a sufficient amount of dietary calcium.
They also noted that increased consumption of dietary calcium has been linked to decreased occurrence of late AMD in multiple studies—including the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) and the Blue Mountains Eye Study—as well as other studies that have linked calcium to a variety of crucial physiological processes.
Take-home?
The study itself did not determine a causal relationship between calcium intake and AMD, and the authors call for further research to identify the role of calcium in AMD pathogenesis.