Associations between dietary nutrient intake and the risk of multiple age-related ocular diseases: evidence from longitudinal analysis

BACKGROUND: This study aims to assess how dietary nutrient intake relates to the risk of developing four common age-related ocular diseases, including age-related macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. METHODS: This study utilized data from the UK Biobank, covering 36 nutrients. The analysis included 103192 participants after applying predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The outcomes were the incidences of four age-related ocular diseases, including age-related macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma, derived from UK Biobank hospital records. Associations between nutrient intake and the incidence risk of four diseases were evaluated using Cox proportional hazards models. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were also performed. RESULTS: During a median follow-up time of approximately 13 years, 1977 age-related macular degeneration cases, 11312 cataract cases, 618 diabetic retinopathy cases and 2213 glaucoma cases became incident. Pantothenic acid intake was positively associated with an elevated risk of AMD (HR: 1.05, 95%CI: 1.01-1.09, p = 0.013), which is more pronounced among older participants and men. Total iron (HR: 0.99, 95%CI: 0.98-1.00, p = 0.019), non-haem iron (HR: 0.99, 95% CI: 0.98-1.00, p = 0.014) and manganese (HR: 0.98, 95%CI: 0.96-1.00, p = 0.020) showed protective associations with cataract. The effects of total iron (HR: 1.05, 95%CI: 1.01-1.10, p = 0.022) and haem iron (HR: 1.34, 95%CI: 1.06-1.69, p = 0.014) on DR risk were also observed. Copper intake appeared to exert a protective effect against glaucoma (HR: 0.86, 95%CI: 0.75-0.99, p = 0.032). CONCLUSIONS: Several dietary nutrients were associated with the incidence of age-related eye diseases.