A new vision for management of age-related macular degeneration and dementia

Recorded on Monday 13 May 2024 at the Royal Society of Medicine.
The 2024 Howard Foundation Lecture focused on age-related macular degeneration and dementia. The lecture was delivered by Professor John Nolan, Director of the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland, who described how research has identified a common factor in the causes of these diseases and how clinical trials have shown substantial improvements in both visual function and memory and brain function.
In this lecture, Professor Nolan explained how targeted nutritional supplementation of the eye and brain offers a safe and effective management option for AMD and Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, this lecture underlined the need for early intervention using these nutritional formulations, to enhance the health and quality of life of the general population, while preventing the onset of these life-destroying age-related diseases of the eye and brain.
AMD is a multifactorial disease of the retina characterised by a spectrum of degenerative changes at the macula, ultimately leading to central vision impairment. Alzheimer’s disease is also a complex multifactorial neurodegenerative disease resulting in abnormalities in cognition, behaviour and day-to-day function. Given the growing and ageing world population, the number of people living with AMD and Alzheimer’s disease continues to rise worldwide. The aetiopathogenesis of these conditions involves oxidative-stress-induced inflammation at the retina and brain, respectively. 
Carotenoids are a group of over 700 naturally occurring nutritional pigments, synthesised by plants, algae, and photosynthetic bacteria. Humans consume circa 50 carotenoids from diet, and only 20 have been identified in the human body (in blood, and fatty tissues and organs, e.g. retina and brain).
Exponential increases in the prevalence of AMD and Alzheimer’s disease, combined with limited treatment options for both conditions, are driving the need for interventions to ameliorate symptoms and improve the quality of life in patients living with these conditions.
We would like to thank the Howard Foundation for its generous support enabling free access to this event
Find out more about the RSM at rsm.ac.uk
All views expressed are of the speakers themselves and not of the RSM.