A new study published in Cell Reports Medicine has found that a vitamin supplement designed to improve metabolism in the eye may help slow down damage to the optic nerve in people with glaucoma. These promising findings have led researchers at Karolinska Institutet to begin a clinical trial to test the treatment on patients.
Glaucoma is a condition that gradually damages the optic nerve, often due to high pressure in the eye. Over time, this damage can lead to vision loss and, in severe cases, blindness. Current treatments like eye drops, laser therapy, or surgery aim to lower eye pressure, but their effectiveness varies widely among patients.
For many years, researchers have suspected that a substance called homocysteine might play a role in glaucoma. Homocysteine is a naturally occurring compound in the body that is involved in metabolism.
High levels of it have been linked to various diseases, including heart disease and stroke. To explore its connection to glaucoma, the team at Karolinska Institutet conducted a series of experiments on both animals and humans.
In their study, the researchers elevated homocysteine levels in rats with glaucoma to observe the effects. Surprisingly, they found that increasing homocysteine levels did not worsen the condition. They also examined data from people with glaucoma and found no link between high homocysteine levels and faster disease progression.
Additionally, people with a genetic tendency to have high homocysteine levels were not more likely to develop glaucoma. These findings led the researchers to conclude that homocysteine is not a cause of glaucoma but rather a byproduct of the disease. Essentially, it appears as a “bystander” rather than a driver of the condition.
Since homocysteine is tied to metabolic processes, the researchers then looked deeper into how metabolism might be disrupted in glaucoma patients. They found several abnormalities in how the retina, the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye, processed certain vitamins.
Specifically, they discovered that the retina’s ability to use certain vitamins was reduced, leading to slower local metabolism. This metabolic slowdown seemed to contribute to the progression of glaucoma.
According to James Tribble, the co-lead researcher and assistant professor at Karolinska Institutet, this discovery pointed to the idea that boosting the retina’s metabolism with specific vitamins might help protect it.
“Our conclusion is that homocysteine is a bystander in the disease process, not a player,” he explained. “Altered homocysteine levels may reveal that the retina has lost its ability to use certain vitamins that are necessary to maintain healthy metabolism.”
Based on this idea, the researchers decided to test whether supplements of those vitamins could help. In experiments on mice and rats with glaucoma, they gave a mix of B vitamins—B6, B9 (folic acid), and B12—as well as choline.
The results were striking: in mice with slower-developing glaucoma, the optic nerve damage was completely halted. In rats with a more aggressive form of the disease, the vitamins significantly slowed the progression of optic nerve damage.
One of the most interesting findings was that the vitamin treatment was effective even without lowering the eye pressure. Current treatments for glaucoma focus on reducing eye pressure to slow down damage, but the vitamin supplements seemed to protect the optic nerve through a different mechanism.
This suggests that boosting the retina’s ability to process certain vitamins can directly affect the health of the optic nerve, regardless of eye pressure levels.
Encouraged by these promising results, the researchers have already started a clinical trial at St. Erik Eye Hospital in Stockholm. Patients with two types of glaucoma are being recruited: primary open-angle glaucoma, which progresses slowly, and pseudoexfoliation glaucoma, which advances more quickly. The goal of the trial is to see if the same protective effects observed in animals can be replicated in humans.
If successful, this approach could represent a new way to treat glaucoma, focusing on the health of the retina and optic nerve rather than just lowering eye pressure. It also opens the door to potentially safer and more accessible treatments, given that the vitamins tested are already well-known and widely used for other health purposes.
This study marks a significant step forward in understanding how metabolic health in the eye can influence glaucoma. With clinical trials now underway, researchers hope to confirm whether this simple yet effective vitamin mix can slow or even halt vision loss in patients with this chronic eye disease.
If proven effective, it could revolutionize the way glaucoma is managed, providing new hope for millions of people at risk of losing their vision.
If you care about health, please read studies about the best time to take vitamins to prevent heart disease, and vitamin D supplements strongly reduce cancer death.
For more health information, please see recent studies about plant nutrient that could help reduce high blood pressure, and these antioxidants could help reduce dementia risk.
The research findings can be found in Cell Reports Medicine.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
