Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: TUESDAY, June 15, 1993 TAG: 9306150218 SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO SOURCE: DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
Dr. Eliot L. Berson, a Harvard Medical School researcher, said a dietary study of 600 patients with retinitis pigmentosa, or RP, showed that vitamin A therapy slowed the loss of eyesight.
He said a patient who started vitamin A therapy at age 32 could retain vision until age 70 instead of losing sight at age 63.
The same study also showed that large, supplemental doses of vitamin E actually accelerate the RP disease, Berson said. At one time, he said, it was thought that both vitamin A and E were beneficial.
"The course of disease was slowed, on average, among adults with the common form of RP who took vitamin A," said Berson in an interview. "There was a suggestion of a more rapid rate of decline among those taking 400 international units of vitamin E."
- Associated Press
by CNB