Abstract:

Age-related macular degeneration（AMD）is featured as a macular degeneration of irreversible decline or loss of central vision. β-carotene is capable of inhibiting cytotoxicity of oxygen free radicals serving as an effective antioxidant and was used to intervent the development of AMD. However,  evidences demonstrated that high risk of lung cancer and morbidity increased with excessive intake of β-carotene among smokers. Therefore, the lutein and zeaxanthin were considered as the replacement to be studied in the current researches. The results show some protective effects of them for the AMD. But the mechanisms are not clear yet. The further studies are still neccessary.