When most people think about eye vitamins for macular degeneration, they think about lutein. And we're very proud to have provided FloraGLO® brand lutein - the industry's best - in our AREDS and AREDS 2 formulas since November 2001.
Yes, we've been around that long!
But the single most important ingredient among those in AREDS 2 isn't lutein. And it's even more confusing because not everyone does well with it. The most important ingredient is zinc. And zinc oxide is the form that was studied among the thousands of people in AREDS and AREDS 2. In fact, the original AREDS research showed that zinc was nearly as successful as the entire AREDS formula.
But here's where it gets confusing. The AREDS 2 research showed that there was no significant difference comparing low (25 mg) and high (80 mg) of daily zinc. And certainly, there are fewer side effects with less zinc. Even more confusing is thatDoctors Carl Awh, Demetrios Vavvas and Joanna Sedden have discovered than one in four people do not do better with ANY zinc. So while zinc is important, we certainly don't want to be having our customers take 80 mg daily. We were ground-breaking when we advised only 40 mg of zinc oxide daily. And finally after years, the science has backed up our smart decision.