DAYLIGHT, DIET, AND AGE-RELATED CATARACT

Blindness due to cataract continues to take a heavy toll on economic, social, and personal resources. Research into factors that may cause o r prevent cataracts is of the highest priority. In this paper, the epi demiological evidence is summarized on the role of sunlight exposure a nd antioxidants for cataract. To date, there are consistent findings l inking ultraviolet B (UV-B) radiation to cataract, particularly cortic al and posterior subcapsular opacities. Antioxidants are likely to exe rt a protective effect against oxidative stress in the lens, but the c urrent epidemiologic data present less coherent support for this hypot hesis. Difficulties in summarizing these data include different method s for assessing antioxidant status, widely varying populations, and di fferent research designs. Nevertheless, most studies have found some m easure of antioxidant status to be associated with some type of catara ct. Future research directions are described.