Table 12.

Studies investigating the relationship between dietary and serum levels of carotenoids and risk for ARM.

Study	No. of cases	Measure of risk factor	Type of ARM	Odds ratio or relative risk	95% confidence interval
Cross-Sectional Studies
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III [245]	8222	Dietary intake of lutein and zeaxanthin	Pigmentary abnormalities	0.1 (Younger age groups)	0.1–0.3
		Serum level of lutein and zeaxanthin	Early ARM	1.0	0.6–1.5
Prospective Studies
Beaver Dam Eye Study [237]	1709	Dietary intake of pro-vitamin A carotenoids	Large drusen	0.53	0.3–1.0
				0.45	0.2–1.0
Blue Mountains Eye Study [226, 242]	2900	Dietary intake of carotene	Early ARM	0.7	0.4–1.1
			Late ARM	0.7	0.3–2.0
Blue Mountains Eye Study [226, 242]	1989	Dietary intake of α- and β-carotene	Early ARM	1.3 (α-carotene)	0.8–2.2
				1.2 (β-carotene)	0.7–2.1
Rotterdam Study [235]	4170	Dietary intake of β-carotene in combination with vitamin C, vitamin E and zinc	Early and late ARM	0.65	0.46–0.92
Pathologies Oculaires Liees a L'Age [246]	899	Plasma Levels of zeaxanthin	Early and Late ARM	0.07	0.01–0.58
		Combined plasma level of lutein and zeaxanthin	Early and late ARM	0.21	0.05–0.79