A new clinical trial found that Sabinsa’s Macumax, an eye health formula containing lutein, zeaxanthin, a bioavailability enhancer called BioPerine, bilberry and saffron extracts, and zinc monomethionine, was linked to vision health benefits in a group of subjects who were diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
 
The study, authored by Sabinsa founder Muhammed Majeed, Shaheen Majeed, and Kalyanam Nagabhushanam, was published in the Journal of Medicinal Food.
 
AMD is the leading cause of vision loss in people over the age of 60. In AMD, vision degrades over time due to oxidative damage in the retina, and many vision health supplements are formulated to target this process by arresting it or slowing it down. There are no effective pharmaceutical drugs for this condition currently.
 
Lutein, and its isomer zeaxanthin, the two primary active ingredients in the formulation, are characterized by its high concentrations in the eye, where it has been shown to have blue light filtering and antioxidant properties. BioPerine, a piperine extract, is known to enhance the bioavailability of several carotenoids and other compounds as a dietary supplement ingredient.
 
The 90-day clinical trial was conducted in 40 patients age 50 years and older, with early-stage, dry-type AMD, in which the subjects received one capsule of the supplement twice daily for 90 days, with subjective symptoms of AMD being assessed by the researchers at 30-day intervals.  Objective vision parameters, namely visual acuity for distant and pinhole vision, fundus changes, optical coherence tomography (OCT), Amsler’s grid aberration changes, and the Humphrey visual field examination, were evaluated.
 
During the subjective symptoms reporting, the authors of the study noted that there were improvements in both the subjective (self-reported) and objective measures of visual improvements across all of the participants.
 
“Macumax treatment showed improvements in difficulty in day vision scores, perception of black spots, and improvement in dark adaptation compared with baseline,” the authors concluded. “There were significant improvements in diminished and distorted vision scores, respectively. Similarly, improvements were also observed with secondary efficacy endpoints, namely in distant vision measures with Snellen visual acuity, pinhole vision, fundus changes, and in OCT.”
 
Following both 60 and 90 days of supplementation, the participants in the trial saw 60% improvements in the Amsler’s Grid test.
 
“Thus, the results of this trial confirm that the use of the study supplement preserves the eye condition without further deterioration and it can be concluded that with long usage it will prevent or delay the vision loss that has been observed if AMD is not treated,” the authors concluded. “Out of 40 subjects, none of the subjects reported any adverse events during the entire study period.”
 
Dr. Majeed said that the study holds promise for the role of supplementation in preserving vision as people enter their golden years.
 
“The maintenance of AMD symptoms from further deterioration is of paramount importance,” he said. “Nutritional supplementation seems to hold great promise in that area. We are happy with the trial outcome, and look forward to continuing investigations.”