Does vitamin C cause cataracts?

Finding solutions to difficult problems sometimes requires tossing aside assumptions and looking at things from a new perspective. Plastic surgery, at is best, consists of this type of creative problem-solving. In fact, the word plastic implies flexibility and changeability. But sometimes our assumptions are so ingrained that challenging them risks being seen as imprudent, if not reckless. The wisdom of taking vitamin supplements is one such sacred cow, though evidence consistently leads us in the other direction.

Albert Szent-Györyi, who won a Nobel prize for his discovery of vitamin C in 1937, said “Discovery consists of seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought.” He would have been surprised to see how much attention vitamin C would attain as an anti-oxidant supplement, a theory in its infancy during his time. It’s something we take as gospel. I was giving a lecture recently on wine and health, and as I sometimes do I noted that studies have consistently found no anti-aging benefit to use of vitamins. Afterward, one of the attendees said she appreciated the points about wine but disagreed with my statements about vitamins. I gently replied that I am only the reporter on this, is just what the science shows regardless of what we have been told.

What makes it particularly difficult to grasp is that not only do antioxidant vitamins fail to show any benefits in terms of age-related diseases, they actually appear to be harmful. For example, vitamin E users have a higher mortality than those who don’t take supplements. And now vitamin C is implicated in causing cataracts, according to a recently published study from Sweden. But try Googling “vitamin C +cataracts” and all you will find is sites touting the benefits of C in cataract prevention.

Ultimately, it isn’t really complicated. Those who enjoy the best health are those who eat a sensible diet where the vitamins come from natural sources, in their natural context. And wine is a part of this diet; wine drinkers live an average of 5 years longer than teetotalers, and have better health overall.