For cardiovascular disease prevention, statins are widely used to decrease blood cholesterol but have also shown to have antioxidant activity.
The most common type of age-related cataract, the one that occurs in the center of the lens, called nuclear cataract have a higher rate of occurring when oxidative stress level is high.
In a study funded by the National Eye Institute, ample evidence suggested an association between nutritional intake of antioxidants and age-related cataract.
Read more at Science Daily.Because smoking and diabetes increase risk of nuclear cataract, the authors analyzed results in never smokers without diabetes, and found the odds of developing nuclear cataract was 60 percent lower among statin users after adjusting for other factors.
To further explore the relationship between statin use and nuclear cataract, the authors suggest that clinical trials of statins used for lipid lowering should assess nuclear cataract. In addition, they state "further study of the relationship of cataract and statin use is needed in which each type of cataract is considered individually.
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